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CSFmiCHT DEPOSir. 



BIBLE IDEALS 



By O. L. Lyon, Ph.D. 



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BIBLE IDEALS 



A Literary Study, Especially 
of the Idealization and Poetry 
Found in the Scriptures, 

By 

0. L. Lyon, Ph. D. 

(.Boston University.) 

Professor of English Language and Literature, 
WINONA COLLEGE. 

Formerly Professor of Biblical Literature in niinols 
Wesleyan University and also PliiUips University. 

Author of 
"PRINCIPLES OF LITERARY INTIHRPRETATION FOR 
BOTH SECULAR AND BIBLICAL LITERATURE." 




THE GLAD TIDINGS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

LAKESIDE BUILDING 

CHICAGO 



3S535 



Copyri&ht, 1916, 

By 

O. L. LYON. 



1 



f 



JUL 19 1916 

©CI.A431922 



THE GOODSPEED PRESS 
CHICAGO 



1/U> 



CONTENTS 

BY SUBJECTS AND THEMES 

OLD TESTAMENT 

PAGE 

Bible Ideals, r 11 

Creation — Majesty of God 14 

Temptation — Disobedience 15 

Cain and Abel — Selfishness 16 

Epic Cycle of Abraham — Faith and Obedience.... 17 

Jacob's Cycle — From Deception to Righteousness. . 19 
Epic History of Joseph and His Brethren — The 

Perfect Life 21 

Plagues of Egypt — Deliverance 23 

The Brazen Serpent — Faith 24 

The Epic of Baalam — Compromise 25 

Deut. XXXII. — Faithful J^^fc^^aA^jMCi^BLE God.. 26 

Joshua Cycle — Faith and OHHBHfcST 27 

Deborah's Song — Deliverance Thru Faith 32 

Gideon's Band — Faith that Dares 33 

Jepthah's Rash Vow — Rashness 34 

Ruth, an Idyl — Friendship and Christian Devotion 35 

The Cycle of Samuel — Righteousness 37 

Cycle of Saul — Effect of Disobedience 42 

Feud Between Saul and David, an Epic History 

— Jealousy 45 

David's Adultery — Retribution 48 

Elisha Cycle — Faith and Obedience 50 

Esther, an Epic History — Deliverance, also Retri- 
bution 57 

Job, Epic, Lyric, and Dramatic — The Mountain 

Height of Faith 60 

Twenty-Third Psalm — The Providence of God.... 63 

Psalm XVI — Personal Consecration 64 

Psalm XXX — Trust 65 

Psalm XXXVII — Trust in God Versus Trust in 

Worldliness t 66 

Psalm XL VI — God Our Refuge 68 

Psalm LI — True Repentance 69 

Psalm G XXXVI I— Lamentation ...*.*;; i . . . . . . . . 7© 

$ 



PAGE 
ECCLESIASTES EmPTINESS OF WoRLDLINESS VeRSUS THE 

Glory of Godliness 71 

SoLOMON^s Song, a Lyric Idyl — Pure Affection. ... 72 
The Great Arraignment, Isaiah I — Corruption of 

THE Church 75 

Parable of the Vineyard — Ingratitude 76 

Vision II, Isaiahan Rhapsody — Ministry to the 

Church 77 

ZioN, THE Bride of Jehovah — Church as God^s 

Bride 78 

ZioN — The City of Beauty and Peace 80 

Doom of Babylon — Retribution 81 

The Shepherds of Israel Versus the Divine Shep- 
herd — Hirelings and Real Pastors 82 

Valley of Dry Bones — Preaching Bringing Life 

Out of Death 83 

Story of the Fiery Furnace — Conviction, a Faith 

That Sticks 84 

Daniel in the Lions* Den — Faith and Prayer, also 

Envy 85 

NEW TESTAMENT 

Poetry of the Gospels, Epic, Lyric and Dramatic 88 

Preface to John^s Gospel — The Incarnation 102 

The Magnificat — Sublime Magnifying of the Lord 103 

Shepherd Scene — Trust 104 

Reality Versus Appearance — Self-Righteousness. . 105 

Temptation — Inspiration of an Ideal. 106 

Sermon on the Mount — Ideal Living 107 

Consider the Lilies — God's Protecting Care 110 

God so Loved the World that He Gave — Love's 

Nature Ill 

Centurion's Servant Healed — Faith 112 

The Widow of Nain — Compassion 113 

Treasure in a Field, and Pearl of Great Price — 

Highest Value of Salvation 114? 

Anointing of Jesus in the Pharisee's House — Lov- 
ing Faith 115 

Woman With Issue op Blood — Faith in Even a 

TOVSK i i » » i i t i i i i » t «• I «<< 4 <*•<<«««« « 11# 



PAGE 

Jairus' Daughter — Faith 117 

John Beheaded — Duty Sublime 118 

Five Thousand — The All-Sufficiency of Jesus.... 119 

John Doubting the Messiahship of Christ — Doubt 120 

Peter Walking on the Sea — The Demon, Doubt. . 121 
Syrophenician Woman's Daughter — Persistency op 

Faith 122 

Stilling the Tempest — Doubt and Fear 123 

The Man with a Withered Hand — "The Letter 

Killeth'' 125 

The Transfiguration — Pre-eminence of Jesus, also 

Consecration 125 

Forgiveness — Contrast Between God's Love and 

Man's 126 

Jesus Shows Who are Worthy to Follow Him — 

Christian Worthiness 129 

The Woman Taken in Adultery — Mercy 130 

The Good Shepherd — The Ideal Minister 131 

Jesus Scoring Outward Show — Externals Versus 

Internals 132 

Good Samaritan — Brotherhood of Man 133 

Covetousness — A Form of Idolatry 134 

The Parable of the Fig Tree — Fruit-bearing 136 

Jesus Healing the Infirm Woman — True Helpful- 
ness Versus Blatant Hypocrisy 136 

Humility 137 

Lost Sheep — Constancy of Love 138 

Prodigal Son — Repentance 140 

Rich Man and Lazarus — Retribution 141 

The Raising of Lazarus — Love Versus Hate 143 

The Ten Lepers — Gratitude Versus Ingratitude.. 144 

Parable of Pharisee and Publican 145 

Rich Young Ruler — Unwillingness to Pay the 

Price 147 

Precious Ointment — ^Love's Sacrifice. 148 

Marriage Feast — Preparation 149 

The First and Great Commandment — God's Claim 

for all of Man's Love 150 

Ten Virgins — Watchfulness 151 

Talents — Service , 152 

Christ's New Commandment — Love as He Loves. ... 154 

5 



Consolation 155 

The Last Judgment — Service 156 

The Lord's Supper — Feast of Love and Devotion. .157 

John XVII— Union 158 

Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen — Selfish 159 

Vine and the Branches — Christ, the Life-Giver. . 160 

Peter's Denial — Doubt. 161 

The Betrayal — Treachery 161 

The Trial of Christ — Supreme Courage 163 

Gethsemane and Calvary 164 

Resurrection — Victory Over Death 165 

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes 166 

Responsibility of Speech 168 

The Mask of Life 169 

The Transforming Power of Love 170 

Jesus as the Ideal of All Ideals 171 

Jesus the Ideal of Service 171 

Jesus the Ideal of Perfect Trust 171 

Jesus an Ideal of Hope 172 

Jesus an Ideal of Constancy of Love 172 

Jesus and Immortality 173 

Jesus as an Ideal of Friendship 173 

Jesus as an Ideal of Unity 174 

Jesus as an Ideal of Forgiveness 175 

Jesus as an Ideal of Courage 175 

Jesus as an Ideal of Freedom 177 

Jesus as an Ideal of Filial Devotion 177 

Jesus as a Type of Grief 178 

Jesus' Attitude Toward Restitution 179 

Jesus and Heroism 1 80 

Jesus and Patriotism 181 

Jesus and Power 1 82 

Jesus and Conviction 183 

Jesus and Nature 185 

Jesus and Humility 185 

Jesus and Glorification 1 86 

Jesus and Spiritual Conquest 187 

Jesus and Exaltation 189 

Jesus an Example of Living Under the Inspiration 

OF the Highest 190 

Jesus and Prayer 190 

6 



PREFACE 

This book attempts to reveal some of the literary glories 
of the Bible. Shakespeare is great, but the Bible is shown 
to be transcendently greater. Tennyson is beautiful, but the 
Bible, has a beauty, a splendor, a spiritual touch that only God 
can give. All through the book the Biblical poems are com- 
pared with the best of the world's literature, and their great 
superiority pointed out. There is also a constant comparison 
with other poems of Holy Writ. 

The literary beauties of the Bible have but to be seen 
by the Bible student to cause him to leave it for no other 
book. In it he finds the most charming lyrics, the most 
thrilling epics, the world's best idyls, unlimited sonnets, in- 
spiring odes, lyrics of consolation not elsewhere found, in- 
comparable short stories, letters, orations, picture galleries 
of portraits, doom forms, the dramatic in all of its marvelous 
attractiveness and earth's most heavenly rhapsodies. The 
present work is but an introduction to the world of truth and 
beauty portrayed in the Bible with divine touch. 

Just as over half of present day poetry is in a prose dress, 
so it is with most of the poetry of the Bible. Poetry must 
be remembered as creative literature, and not necessarily 
written in verse. Viewed from a literary standpoint, the 
poems from Genesis to Revelation are as a series of lovely 
parks girding the earth. 

In each poem the theme is stated, also in most cases, 
the bondage which caused the poet to write the poem. This 
bondage is called the lower antipodal point. The upper 



PREFACE 



antipodal point is the highest point of freedom given the 
soul by the ideal portrayed in the poem. But the main 
feature of the book ^is /the portrayal of the great ideals of 
the Biblical poems. This is called idealization, or the means 
of making the theme stand out. Poetry is almost solely a 
matter of idealization. The last step in the treatment of 
these poems is the extensive comparison with both secular 
and Biblical literature referred to above. 

The author hopes that a perusal of these poems may give 
the reader a little higher appreciation of God's heavenly 
Word, causing him to see the master strokes of the Supreme 
Artist of the universe in painting for us his golden gems 
which are ever the Christian's consolation and inspiration. 



BIBLE IDEALS 

The one purpose of the Bible is to set forth an ideal way 
of righteous living. It is a book of ideals, golden gems, to 
lead the soul up the heights to the beautiful heart of God. 
In it we find the world's greatest discipline in ideal living. 

As a rule the acme of all poetry has been treated pro- 
saically, exegetically, theologically. This, no doubt, has its 
value, but too often the miners have been satisfied with ob- 
taining dull lead instead of gold and diamonds. The beauties 
of the old Book which fire the soul to the highest, and which 
should be treated synthetically, have been so dissected by the 
keen knife of analysis that they have at times appeared a3 
grinning skeletons. 

In this age of the world when friction is becoming less, 
when the providence of God is more disseminated than ever 
before, when man is catching the vision of world sympathy, 
world thinking, and world ideals — when the beautiful in both 
material and immaterial things is taking hold of the human 
heart with ever increasing force, is it not time for us to view 
the scriptures from their beauty side, from their ideal side? 
Men today are paying more money for the beautiful than for 
any other one thing; they are seeking after it and are ascend- 
ing by this search. The ugliness of sin must hide itself when 
the beauty of righteous ideals appears on the scene. 

It may be truthfully said that the constant aim of the 
Bible is to reveal the ideal. The soul is ever urged onward 
to a realization of its possibilities, the appeal being constantly 
to the better or higher self. The Bible most fully expresses 
the soul's consciousness of the possible in human attainment, 

11 



12 BIBLE IDEALS 

the ought-to-be. It tends to make one feel about himself and 
his fello'wr man, as he ought to feel. One, in studying the 
Bible, becomes sensitively conscious of the limitations of the 
soul, and more and more strives to throw them off and realize 
the ideal possibilities of life. The Bible, then, is an eliminat- 
ing process, and more, a regenerating process. The bondage 
in which the soul finds itself is ever being warred against. 
Ideal character or ideal life is the goal. Anything that 
hinders this realization is antagonistic. Too often love is com- 
mercial, having the alloy of selfishness. The Bible attempts 
to eliminate this alloy and to make love pure and constant 
as in Ruth, Joseph, Jonathan, Paul, and the Christ. Faith, 
that anchor of the soul, is usually crippled by the demons 
of fear and doubt. These monsters are put to flight in 
such poems as Psalm XXIII, Gethsemane, Shepherd Scene, 
and Job. Even- demons cannot face such a thunderbolt as, 
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." Lovely friend- 
ship, the greatest stimulant of the human soul, is only too 
often degraded by selfish elements. But the Bible has given 
us types of friends like David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, 
Paul and Timothy, John and Jesus, that enable us to live in 
ideality what we are too often denied in reality. 

In studying the Bible we all feel an urging to a higher 
and more perfect life. We see in Paul, the master man of 
all ages, a life inspired by the highest, and are impelled to 
follow in his footsteps. John presents to us an ideal of hero*- 
ism and truest love, and we feel an inner longing to realize 
such an ideal. The real meaning of the passage, "I, if I be 
lifted up, will draw all men unto me," has its explanation in 
this longing of the soul to realize an ideal held up. Jesus 
is such a perfect ideal that, held up in his beauty and loveli- 
ness, he is drawing continents to himself. 

The Bible by its ideals furnishes a galaxy of moral and 
spiritual beauty unsurpassed anywhere. Abraham for his 
sublime faith, Jonathan for his abiding friendship, Joseph 
for his fidelity, Samuel for his great souled devotion, Christ 



BIBLE IDEA LS 13 

in his constancy of love, and scores of other ideals so beauti- 
fully portrayed in the Bible, will never cease to inspire the 
world to higher things. Prayer is made ideal by the em- 
phasis which Jesus gives it, not only in word but in practice. 
Says he, "Men ought always to pray." No other being has 
so emphasized this ideal means of communication with the 
Infinite. He even prayed for his enemies and reinforced 
his prayer by dying for them. Of no other reformer can 
it be said that he was always an exemplar of his own teach- 
ings. The ideal of forgiveness is rendered divine in Joseph 
and Jesus. Love is made an ideal leveler in the establish- 
ment of the Church of Christ among the Jews and Gentiles; 
and so it levels all distinctions in the divine economy. In 
Peter and the Prodigal Son we see love an ideal conqueror. 
Ideal repentance is seen in David, Jacob, Peter, Paul, the 
Pentecostans, and the Prodigal Son. Indeed do we find the 
world's most precious diamonds in the ideal realm of the 
Bible. 

As in secular literature, so in the Biblical, the ideals 
differ in degree of idealization. This can be seen at a glance 
in going from the Old Testament to the New, also in passing 
from the virtues exemplified in men to the same embodied 
in Christ. The great zeal of Paul gives us higher ideals 
than those observed in men of less enthusiasm for the Master. 

Let not any reader think that ideals cannot exist in reality. 
Jesus was both the real and the ideal at the same time. No 
one could consider him a literary creation. The friendship 
of Jonathan and David, so ideal to us, was real to them. The 
heaven of peace and joy that fills the soul at times, does not 
become unideal by becoming real. "Home, Home, Sweet, 
Sweet Home," remains ideal tho it becomes real, so it is 
with Christian experiences which bring us "fullness of joy." 

No difficulty need ever come from viewing the Scriptures 
from the ideal standpoint, if one will but remember that 
literary ideals have been realized by some, and that the high- 
est reality is idealit^i 



U BIBLE IDEALS 

To those who know poetry only by its verses, stanzas, 
metre, rhyme, rhythm, melody, in short, by its form, it may 
seem strange to consider thought in a prose dress as poetry 
or literature; but content far outweighs form, and it is from 
this side in the main that we view the Bible. Just as we 
find some of the best of poetry in essays, novels, and oratory, 
so the Bible reveals to us a wealth of literature, though it is 
largely in a prose dress. The Biblical literature bears the 
tests of poetry in content, such as idealization, universality, 
true philosophy of life, great types, freedom, the true, the 
beautiful, and the good, and characters as universal individ- 
uals. 

CREATION 
Gen. 1, 2:1-3. 

This sublime poem has for its theme the majesty of God 
or absolute power. 

The Book of Books begins in a more sublime strain than 
does any other poem or book ever written. *'In the begin- 
ning God created the heaven and the earth.** In Memoriam, 
Aeneid, Iliad, or any Shakspearian play does not compare 
in majesty. We are plunged at once into the deepest sub- 
limity, the really unthinkable, for who can think creation? 
Man thinks apperceptively, but creation is not subject to 
such a law. A panorama of worlds and life flashes before 
us in such rapid succession that we are dazed, we are stunned. 
The inexplainable, for instance, light being summoned when 
there was no moon, no sun, no stars, ever dazzles us. We 
can only stand off and wonder. Let science do what it will, 
it can never clear away the mystery of creation. God speaks 
from a God-standpoint, and His thoughts are as high above 
our thoughts as the heavens are above the earth. 

In this poem the majesty of God is revealed on as grand 
a scale as in the Rhapsody of Zion Redeemed. Nothing in 
secular literature or in the Psalms eompares at all favorably 
with it 



BIBLE IDEALS 15 

TEMPTATION 
Gen. 2:4-3. 

Disobedience is the one idea running thru this epic. 

We are taken out of the paradise of obedience into the 
woe-begone world of disobedience. 

Perhaps only the divine mind could paint the beauties of 
Eden, the first home of man. All the beauty of all the parks 
in the world would perhaps not equal the loveliness of Eden. 
Then too, Adam and Eve have truth, beauty, and goodness 
in their ideal untarnished state. Adam must have had su- 
pernatural knowledge to name all things as he did. In such 
a paradise and with such blessings of wisdom and God's 
company, for one to give them all up for nothing is the 
puzzle of the ages. Deception creeps in, symbolically rep- 
resented in a wily form, and overturns their heaven. How 
easily is the human mind tricked ! Disastrous are the con- 
sequences; guilt arises and innocence flees away; clothing is 
tacked on, and they tremble in the presence of God. Adam, 
man-like, tries to lay the blame on Eve. "The woman thou 
gavest me." They are dismissed from the Garden and sent 
forth to earn their food by the sweat of their brow. The 
earth is cursed and made to bring forth brier and thistle. 
A marvelous change comes about in both material and mental 
conditions. 

The idealization is very great, for the happy pair lose 
not only their paradise of Eden, but also the image of the 
divine. Furthermore, by heredity they entail the same loss of 
the divine image on all posterity. They change, too, the whole 
economic order of the world. 

This poem may well be compared witji Christ's tempta- 
tion in the Wilderness. If Christ had failed as Adam and 
Eve did, the world would have been doomed; but as it re- 
sulted, all was gained in Christ's obedience that was lost in 
Adam's disobedience. "As in Adam all men die, even so in 
Christ are all men made alive." 



16 BIBLE IDEALS 



CAIN AND ABEL 
Gen. 4:1-15. 

Selfishness or being self-centered is the theme of this epic. 
We are swept from the black selfishness of Cain to the beau- 
tiful unselfishness of Abel. 

Cain is a tiller of the soil; his brother^ a keeper of the 
sheep. One is righteous; the other unrighteous. Each offers 
a sacrifice to the Lord. Righteous Abel is blessed^ but selfish 
Cain is not blessed. An angry scowl comes over his face, 
causing the Lord to tell him that if he were righteous he 
would be blessed. Watching his opportunity as Absalom did, 
Cain slays his brother in the field. 

The Lord comes on the trembling culprit and asks him 
where his brother is. The liar answers, "I know not; am 
I my brother's keeper?" But the Lord fastens the crime on 
him with a few brain-racking statements. For instance, 
"What hast thou done.'' The voice of thy brother's blood 
crieth unto me from the ground." Then he sentences him to 
be a wanderer on the face of the earth. Cain writhes under 
this and says, "My punishment is greater than I can bear." 
He also tells the Lord that men will find him and kill him. 
To prevent this, the Lord puts a mark on him, and pro- 
nounces a sevenfold vengeance on the man who slays Cain. 

The idealization of selfishness is rather high, for it is the 
Lord pronouncing sentence directly. The punishment is so 
great as to be seemingly unbearable to the murderer; and, 
furthermore, it is so great as to cause even the Lord to mark 
the culprit in such a way aS to protect him from the ven- 
geance of his fellow man. 

Saul, Jacob, Judas, the duke in My Last Duchess, Shy- 
lock, and many others come to mind in thinking of self-centered 
Cain. Indeed has the world swarmed with such examples, 
for self is the colossal source of all sin. 

In Abel we see a man well named, Abel, able to do right. 
The first man on earth to die, and that for righteousness, 



BIBLE IDEALS 17 

this is rather remarkable. Martyrdom for principle is as 
old as man, and as honorable as truth. 

EPIC CYCLE OF ABRAHAM 

Gen. 12:24. 

The Cycle of Abraham comprises a group of epic stories 
connected with his life. As a whole, the one idea running 
through the stories is faith and obedience. 

1. The Call of Abraham. 

In the call of Abraham we see marvelous faith. Called 
upon to leave his home, native land, all he holds dear, he 
obeys without a word, and goes forth, not knowing whither 
he is going. It takes a real hero to do such a deed. 

2. Flight into Egypt. 

On account of famine in Canaan Abraham is forced to go 
into Egypt. Here we see a strong touch of the human in 
our hero. Because of the great beauty of his wife, Abraham 
thinks it safest for him to tell Pharaoh that Sarah is his 
sister. This deception causes the monarch to take her to 
his own house with the intention of making her his wife; but 
the Lord so plagued Pharaoh and his household that the mon- 
arch sends Abraham and Sarah away from the Kingdom, at 
the same time reproving the patriarch for his deception. 

3. Abraham and Lot. 

In the next story of the cycle we are led to admire the 
great magnanimity of Abraham, his complete unselfishness, 
where he gives his avaricious nephew choice of the country 
for himself, and takes what is left. The aw^ful destruction 
of Sodom is the sequel to the selfishness of Lot. 

4. Abraham and Hagar. 

The cycle is now marked with another blot, doubt. Sarah 
doubting God, tired of waiting, thinks Uzzah-like to help 
God along, and gives Hagar to Abraham. Ishmael and the 



BIBLE IDEA LS 



Ishmaelites form a sad commentary on this doubting Thomas. 
Like John the Baptist in prison^ Sarah could not stand 
suspense. 

5. Offering of Isaac. 

The highest point of idealization to which the cycle rises, 
is in the offering of Isaac. We are here given a type of faith 
like unto God sacrificing his only son. Isaac is an only son, 
the promise of Abraham's old age, whom the patriarch is 
called on to sacrifice. No one can imagine the torture of 
Abraham's heart when the Lord tells him to sacrifice his 
seventeen year old boy. Yet believing God as he does, Abra- 
ham, without consulting his wife, starts to Mount Moriah to 
carry out God's command. During the fifty-five mile ride the 
father has sufficient time to consider it. To see the father 
and son kneeling with arms about each other there by the 
altar is heartrending; but Abraham does not hesitate. As 
he raises the knife to slay his son, the angel of the Lord 
calls to him, not to touch the boy. Who can tell the bound 
of the old man's heart at this command? Looking around 
he spies a ram in a thicket, caught by his horns. This he 
offers as his sacrifice. 

The idealization here could hardly be higher. Abraham 
would quickly have given his own life rather than that of his 
son. The idol of his heart, the hope of all the future of the 
religious world, lay in Isaac, but he must give him up. This 
is typical of what is plainly taught in both Old and New Testa- 
ment, that the surrender must be complete. Everything must 
be given up to the Lord; the dearest idol of the heart, we 
must be willing to give up. God gave up his all in all, his 
only Son, and so Christ gave up his all in all. The Rich 
Young Ruler was asked to give up the idol of his heart, but 
refused. 

We shall have to go to the atonement or to Job to find 
a parallel to this idealization. Job after giving up his pos- 



BIBLE IDEALS 19 

sessions, his ten children, and being vexed with boils, said, 
"Tho he slay me, yet will I trust him." 

Any quibble in this poem over God's seeming cruelty or 
his lacli of knowledge of Abraham's faith is foolish. God 
forever put the ban on the common custom of human sacri- 
fices. No test short of this one would have been the highest. 
God knew Abraham's faith, but perhaps the patriarch him- 
self did not know the strength of his faith. Then the lesson 
to future ages has stimulated millions to greater faith which 
is so needful to the soul's highest welfare. 

6. Wooing of Rebekah. 

This cycle closes with the wooing of Rebekah, in which 
we see marriage as heaven-directed. This may be taken as 
a type of such an ideal. Beautiful indeed is this little bit 
of romance. 

Abraham as one of God's heroes compares favorably with 
Moses, Paul, and John the Baptist. Great faith character- 
izes the life of each. 

JACOB CYCLE 
Gen. 27:47. 

From Deception to Righteousness is the one thread run- 
ning through the cycle. This fact is remarkable inasmuch as 
Jacob, the deceiver, became the founder of the chosen people 
of God, the Israelites, called after his new name. 

1. The Stolen Blessing. 

The cycle begins in a lie, the stolen blessing. Here de- 
ception receives one of its highest idealizations in the world's 
literature. An old blind husband and father is deceived by 
a wife and son. The lie is not only told but acted out. The 
skin of a kid is put on Jacob's hands and arms to make them 
hairy, so he will pass for Esau. The trick works and Jacob 
receives the blessing, but later in life he gets it all paid back 
to him with good interest. 



20 BIBLE IDEALS 

2. Jacob Fleeing. 

Next in the cycle we see the effect of Jacob's gross sin; 
he must flee to escape the wrath of Esau. As he lies on the 
ground at night, with a stone for a pillow, he realizes to 
some extent what he has done. Under such circumstances it 
is no wonder he sees such a vision of angels. Furthermore, 
he little realizes that he is never to see father and mother 
again, and that he is to be among deceivers like himself for 
twenty years. 

3. Jacob and Laban. 

The next step in the cycle is Jacob's relations with 
Laban. It is "Greek meets Greek" — two of a kind have met. 
Retribution is at work, and Jacob finds it difficult to be satis- 
fied with his own game being constantly played on him, not 
only in his marriage relations but also in flocks. 

4. Jacob's Conversion. 

The highest point in this cycle is Jacob's conversion. The 
man can no longer live in an atmosphere of deception. He 
takes his flocks and family and starts for Canaan. Like Paul 
of later times he is in an agony of soul. Symbolically speak- 
ing, Jacob wrestles with an angel all night. This is nothing 
more than the giant struggle of his soul to give up its selfish- 
ness, deception, and evil, and surrender to the divine. The 
conflict results in victory for Jacob, for the Lord blesses 
him and changes his name from Jacob, which means deceiver, 
to Israel, which signifies Man of God. This certainly is a 
typical conversion, and we shall see a new Jacob throughout 
the remainder of the cycle. 

5. Jacob and Esau Meet. 

The next narrative in the cycle is the meeting of Jacob 
and Esau. Here we see love conquering. Jacob has a new 
heart filled with love, and he certainly shows it. His out- 
sraged brotheir is eoming with four hundred mtm What musi 



BIBLE IDEALS 21^ 

Jacob do? What can he do? His only recourse is what 
is now natural, to conquer by love. So he sends his brother 
a very valuable present, and goes out himself to meet him, 
bowing seven times to the earth before Esau. This with the 
present is too much even for Esau. He bounds forward, falls 
on his brother's neck, and they both weep, a sight which 
reminds us of Joseph forgiving his murderous brothers, or 
the Father forgiving the Prodigal Son. 

Esau sees that a wonderful change has come over his 
brother. No more is he stingy, little, and deceiving, but 
big-hearted and generous. This change that is seen in Jacob's 
generosity and loving treatment of fellow man, is typical of 
the change which comes over any one when he is genuinely 
converted. 

This poem on love's conquest reminds one of the con- 
quest of love in (1) Winter's Tale, (2) Cymbeline, (3) 
Gareth and Lynette, (4) Geraint and Enid, (5) The Prin- 
cess, (6) Christ's treatment of Peter when the latter denied 
him, (7) Jesus' treatment of erring men in general. 

6. Jacob Blessing His Sons. 

The cycle closes with a poem of Antique Rhythm in which 
we see the patriarch has made a complete change. From a 
deceiver he has rise-n to be a prophet of God. He blesses 
his sons and foretells to some extent their future. Indeed 
has the transition been wonderful. 

In some respects we might compare the cycle of Jacob 
to the Vision of Sir Launfal, or the Rime of the Ancient 
Mariner, or to Paul's career. In all of these we see a re- 
markable transition from the very bad to the very good. 

JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN 
Genesis 37:47. 

Second only to the story of the Christ in interest, is the 
present one. In fact Joseph in many respects is a type of 
Christ, and according to the best authorities this is the world's 



22 BIBLE IDEALS 

best short story. The theme of this Epic History, as one 
calls it, is deliverance. Some choose to make it perfect life. 

1. Joseph Sold into Egypt. 

The brothers of Joseph are jealous of him, he being their 
father's favorite. All but Reuben determine to kill him. 
Judah proposes to sell the boy for twenty pieces of silver, to 
lie to their father, and tell him that a wild beast has devoured 
Joseph. To prove his death they dip the hated coat of many 
colors in a kid's blood and give it to Jacob. The brothers 
seem heartless, almost savage with the seventeen year old boy. 
They do not appear concerned for their sobbing brother in 
the pit as they are eating their dinner under the noontide 
sun. Little do they care what becomes of him when they 
sell him. He can languish in prison for thirteen years, three 
years of it being in the inner dungeon. What care they? 
Thru it all we see Joseph spotless. Believed dead by his 
father, hated by his brothers, persecuted by the fiendish wife 
of Potiphar, no one on earth to sympathize with him, still 
he can say, "Thou, God, seest me." This is enough for 
Joseph. Such a God-consciousness should characterize every 
child of God. 

Whittier echoes this in Nauhaught the Deacon, when he 
makes the tempted old Indian say, "Nauhaught, be a man.'* 

Let us now pass from the hell which Joseph's brothers 
gave him, to the heaven which he gave them. 

2. Joseph Returning Good for Evil. 

The scene changes. Joseph is made second ruler over all 
the land of Egypt, for he has stood by God, and in return God 
has been standing by him. The interpretation of Pharaoh's 
dreams has brought him this promotion. Famine sets in and 
compels Jacob's sons to seek corn in Egypt to keep from 
starving. It is now Joseph's time. What shall he do ? Shall 
he pay his brothers back in their own coin? No, never. In- 
stead he sends them back home heavily loaded with corn, and 



BIBLE IDEALS 2£ 

their money in their sacks. Later^ when he can stand it no 
longer, we see him falling on his trembling, fearing brothers' 
necks, kissing them and weeping over them — a bit of heaven 
in contrast with the hell they had given him. He brings his 
father and brothers into Egypt, puts them in Goshen, the 
best of Egypt, and nurtures them throughout the long famine. 
After the father dies, Joseph is just as good to his fearing 
brothers as he was before. Only the Prodigal Son, God's 
and also Jesus* treatment of erring humanity, can compare 
adequately with the divine beauty here manifest. Desde- 
mona in forgiving the man that killed her, Enid in forgiving 
Geraint, Imogen in absolving Posthumous, Hermione in par- 
doning Leontes, Valentine forgiving Proteus, Arthur in for- 
giving Guinevere, Hero in pardoning Claudio, Jean Val Jean 
in setting Javert free, are stars of similar magnitude. 

PLAGUES OF EGYPT, 

Exodus 6:15. 

We have here the most spectacular means of deliverance 
given in Holy Writ. The compromising Pharaoh is brought 
to the point of submission to the wish of Moses, tho his com- 
promising spirit finally costs him his life. 

At one time we see the rivers running red with blood, the 
fish dying, stench and raging thirst afflicting every one. Now 
the land is filled with frogs. Next we see lice everywhere, a 
veritable scourge; all the cattle, too, are plagued with mur- 
rain causing death. At another time hail accompanied by 
running lightning and thunder seems to threaten the land 
with utter destruction. Locusts, too, in blinding clouds, eat 
every living thing remaining. Darkness which can be felt 
fills the land, and there is no relief from it. Flies plague the 
people, and also fearful boils. Finally the Angel of Death 
passes over and kills the first born throughout the land. Tliis 
is too much for Pharaoh, who has been compromising after 
each plague. He now urges the Israelites to depart at once, 
which they proceed to do. But the old habit comes back 



24 BIBLE IDEALS 

on the compromiser, and he pursues the Israelites with his 
army. Attempting to cross the Red Sea as the children of 
Israel had done before him, he is engulfed in the closing 
waters. 

In this picturesque bit of imagery we see Moses freeing 
three million slaves without the loss of a single man. God 
is directing and working thru him as he did thru Gideon and 
Abraham, A feat of deliverance so great, done by a man 
single handed, can nowhere else be found. 

THE BRAZEN SERPENT 
Num. 21. 

The story of the Brazen Serpent has for its theme faith 
as well as the 'providence of God. 

We see the Children of Israel journeying thru the moun- 
tain fastnesses around Edom to get to Canaan. Food be- 
comes scarce, and they begin to grumble. As a result of 
their complaining, serpents are sent to plague them. They 
are seen darting everywhere, in and out of their tents. Their 
bite is very painful, soon causing death. Something must be 
done to stop the plague. Moses, with a message from the 
Lord, comes to their rescue. He puts up a Brazen Serpent 
in the Wilderness, and tells the people that anyone who 
will but look at this Serpent will be instantly healed — -healed 
just for a look! Men, women, and children in great agony 
are dragged to their tent doors and caused to look and in- 
stantly the fever and intense pain leave them. 

The plague has come upon them as a result of disobedience, 
and now if they are cured, it must be thru obedience. They 
must exercise enough faith to look. 

The idealization here is beautiful indeed. Only a look 
to find life! So it is with the sinner who looks to Jesus 
believing fully in him. 

"Look and live, my brother, live, 
Look to Jesus now and live." 



BIBLE I DE AL S 25 



The poet here tells the whole story. Poems are recalled 
that have a simillar high degree of idealization; namely, 
"The Hem of Jesus' Garment/' and "The Centurion's Serv- 
ant." In the one case the woman merely touches Jesus' gar- 
ment; in the other the officer says to Jesus, "Only speak the 
word and my servant shall be healed." Such faith Jesus 
marveled at. 

THE EPIC OF BAALAM 

Num. 22-24. 

Nowhere else in the Bible do we have the significant 
theme of compromise so well idealized. Baalam seems to try 
to see how near the edge of disobedience he can go without 
tumbling over. 

In the poem the antipodal point opposite to compromise 
is not treated, but it is plain what it must be. 

Balak, the king of the Moabites, fears the Children of 
Israel. He seeks Baalam, the prophet, in order that he may 
triumph over the people of Israel. An embassy is sent to 
Baalam, who, at God's suggestion, refuses to receive them and 
sends them back. God's words are, "Thou shalt not go with 
them." Balak now sends a more noted embassy. The prophet 
is tempted with offers of worldly honor and seems to yield 
to their request to go with them. "It will promote thee unto 
very great honor," says Balak, temptingly. The Lord does 
not say "no" absolutely, to Baalam, but is displeased with 
evil. 

As Baalam proceeds, an angel three times intercepts the 
way, causing the mule to sidestep and at last to fall down. 
Baalam loses his temper and maltreats the animal which has 
better vision than his master. After being rebuked by the 
mule, Baalam gets his eyes open, sees the angel, and is told 
that the beast has saved his life. 

Baalam goes on and meets Balak, who at once hypocritic- 
ally sacrifices to God to deceive Baalam. Balak asks 
Baalam to curse Israel for him, but Baalam informs Balak 



26 BIBLE IDEALS 

that he can speak only the words of God. The first time 
Baalam is stationed where he can see all Israel. Consulting 
the Lord, he receives a message of praise and blessing for 
Israel. Balak now takes him where he will not be inspired 
by so much of Israel, but the prophet delivers a similar 
blessing. Now Baalam is taken from Pisgah to Peor, a less 
advantageous place, and a similar result follows. Angrily 
Balak dismisses Baalam, telling him that his God has ruined 
his life prospects. 

Baalam seems to keep up his dallying, for at a future 
time he suggests that tho Israel may not be conquered by 
force, it may be by lust. The resulting war finds the com- 
promiser among the slain. Thus he receives a compromiser's 
reward. 

This is a telling bit of idealization in which a great 
prophet met his doom by tampering with sin. How general 
is the principle! Heroes like Savonarola, Paul and Christ, 
who will not tamper a moment with that which squints in 
the wrong direction, are rare. If Baalam could have staid 
with his first resolution where he said, "If Balak would give 
me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the 
word of the Lord," how happy he might have been; but no, 
he listens to the siren voices of gain and honor which ruin 
him. 

In secular literature we fail to find any great poem, unless 
it be Coriolanus, idealizing this theme. The little fable of 
the Spider and the Fly has the same theme. 

FAITHFULNESS VERSUS UNFAITHFULNESS 

Deut. 32. 

The theme of this vivid lyric is the faithful and unchange- 
able God. He is pictured as the immovable rock, the Gibral- 
tar of the universe. 

Vividly indeed is the faithfulness of God set over against 
the unfaithfulness of Israel. The psalm begins in excellent 
strain : 



BIBLE IDEALS 27 

"Hear O heaven, and give ear O earth." 

Then God is portrayed as a being who is perfect, a God 
of faithfulness, just and right. 

We see God taking the Israelites out of a desert land, a 
howling wilderness, and placing them in a land flowing with 
milk and honey. The loving Father keeps them as the apple of 
his eye, and makes them to feast on the fat of the land. But 
they become perverse, crooked, and lightly esteem the Rock 
of their salvation, serving other gods, committing abomina- 
tions, and finally becoming utterly unmindful of the God who 
gave them birth. 

They brought on themselves calamities. Nature is all but 
set on fire against them, and universal destruction seems 
imminent. Not only the figure of consuming fire is used, 
but the wrath of their enemies is made fiery. Says Jehovah, 

"The teeth of beasts will I send upon them, with the 
poison of crawling things of the dust." 

But when the people fall to their lowest, it seems the 
Father is moved with pity for them, and mother-like he be- 
gins to foster them again ; but his vengeance rests heavily on 
their enemies. 

It would be difiicult to find a better example of loving 
faithfulness to a fickle people; however, the story of the Old 
Testament is almost one continuous series of similar incidents, 
though as a rule not so highly idealized. Much of Hosea, 
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel is recalled by the 
poem. 

JOSHUA CYCLE 

Josh. 2:24. 

The theme of the cycle is faith and obedience. In these 
respects Joshua is very much like Abraham. Both are very 
strong in faith, and therefore almost perfect in obedience. 

1. CROSSING THE JORDAN. Josh. 2-4.— The mov- 
ing idea in this story is faith in the all- sufficiency of God. 



28 BIBLE IDEALS 

It certainly takes great faith to accomplish such a mighty 
undertaking. 

A raging torrent is in front of the hosts of Israel, the 
swift flowing Jordan is out of its banks. What is to be done? 
It must be crossed. The priests carrying the Ark walk boldly 
up to the rushing torrent and as their feet strike the waters, 
the river begins to divide and wall up above, so that the 
entire host pass over on dry ground. Twelve men are de- 
tailed to carry twelve stones out of the river and erect a 
memorial to the incident. As the priests leave the river bed 
the waters come together again. 

The idealization of faith is as great here as at the Red 
Sea when the waters divided before Moses. Joshua is very 
much exalted in the eyes of the people by this exhibition 
of sublime faith. In fact, he is put on par with Moses, the 
old beloved leader. His faith is rather remarkable inasmuch 
as he is young as a general, and has had but little divine 
manifestation in his behalf before. When about to be stoned 
for standing by the right as heroes, Caleb and he had been 
saved by the Shekinah light flashing out in the Tabernacle. 
We fail to find comparisons in secular literature, for the 
latter is confined to viewing things from the human stand- 
point. Man does human deeds and not God-deeds. The one 
is heaven — high above the other. 

2. SIEGE OF JERICHO. Joshua 5:13-6— Both faith 
and obedience are strong as organizing ideas in this remark- 
able story. Probably obedience or doing God's work in God's 
way, is more prominent. 

A powerful people are in front of Israel, behind walls 
which mount up to heaven, if we are to take the report of 
the ten spies. But Joshua, undaunted, marches straight up 
to the great city. He sees a man in front of him with a 
drawn sword. Going up to him he finds him to be the angel 
of the Lord who tells him just how to proceed and assures 
him, too, that the city is his. 



BIBLE IDEALS 29 

Joshua, pursuant to the plan of the angel, begins one of 
the strangest sieges ever known to man. So foolish does 
it appear that the general will not permit anyone to say a 
word about it. If people now had such a prohibition put 
upon them, they would die of tongue paralysis ! Every day 
Joshua cries out to Israel, "Forward." They, keeping at a 
safe distance from the walls, march around the city. When 
the people think something is going to be done, Joshua's com- 
mand rings out, "To your tents, O Israel." This strange 
procedure is kept up for six days. It must have been amus- 
ing to the great Anakims on the walls ready to hurl their 
big stones down. No doubt these monsters made much 
sport of the little "grasshoppers" performing such gyrations 
below them. 

On the seventh day the affair becomes stranger than ever, 
for the Israelites march around the walls seven times. What 
can they mean by such actions? When the ram's horns blow 
and Joshua commands the people to shout, the doomed city 
realizes what it all means, for the great walls tumble down, 
and the entire city is put to the sword. 

God's plans may be strange but they win. Some ques- 
tion, "What can a few women and still fewer men do by 
their prayers, with the world, the flesh, and the devil.'*" 
Yes, what are they doing? Whole continents are being 
turned to righteousness. 

Faith and obedience are very highly idealized. Joshua 
had learned that the Lord means just what he says, and that 
he had better do God's work in God's way. 

One is reminded of Naaman the leper, who was told by 
Elisha to do such a strange thing; but had he not obeyed 
and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, he would have 
remained a leper. So it is in becoming a Christian; some 
people hardly see why we must go thru the initiatory steps laid 
down by Christy but it is absolutely certain that it is safe 
to go thru with them. If man will do his part, God will 



£0 BIBLE IDEALS 

always do his. The Lord's ways may be past finding out, but 
they are not past obeying. 

S. SIEGE OF AI. Joshua 7—8 :29.— The third incident 
in the Joshua cycle has for its theme disobedience. 
God cannot for a moment bless such_, even with a commander 
like Joshua. The impossibility of concealing sin, and the 
involving of others in our sin, are prominent ideas in the 
story. 

In the story we are carried from the utter failure of dis- 
obedience to the complete success and great rewards of obe- 
dience. 

Joshua learning thru spies that the men of Ai were but 
few, sends three thousand men to capture it; but they are 
defeated and driven back with considerable loss. Joshua 
seems almost to lose his faith, for he falls "on his face 
before the Ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the 
elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And 
Joshua says, 'Alas, O Lord, wherefore hast thou at all brought 
this people over the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of 
the Amorites, to cause us to perish? Would that we had 
been content, and dwelt beyond Jordan !' '* Then he tells 
the Lord that all the peoples in the country will hear of his 
defeat and will combine and swallow up Israel. He reminds 
one of the Israelites in the Wilderness sighing for the flesh 
pots of Egypt. Alas, how weak, how fleeting is man's faith ! 
God rebuked Joshua, saying, "Get thee up; wherefore art 
thou thus fallen upon thy face! Israel hath sinned." Root 
out the sin, sanctify yourselves, get right with me, clean up, 
and the victory will be yours. Joshua does this and destroys 
Achan the covetous man, with all his possessions in the valley 
of Achor. Fearful is the destruction, including all the chil- 
dren of Achan. They are stoned and burned, together with 
the coveted silver, the Babylonish mantle and the golden 
wedge, a fearful warning to future disobedience. Probably 
in that age no other remedy would have been effective in 
deterring such people. 



BIBLE IDEALS 31 

Now the Lord tells Joshua that he will give Ai into his 
hand. Leading thirty thousand men in person, Joshua invests 
Ai, placing an ambush back of the city, and making a feint 
in front. The trick catches the people of Ai, for they think 
Israel is fleeing as before. So all the men of the city rush 
out in pursuit of Joshua's forces. At a signal from Joshua, 
the ambush rises up and burns the city. The men of Ai seeing 
themselves surrounded, perish by the sword of the Israelites. 

This bit of idealization of disobedience compares favor- 
ably with the numerous times during the Rule of the Judges 
wlien, thru disobedience, Israel would be plunged into abject 
bondage for years. Whenever they would recognize God, he 
would deliver them. Throughout Israel's history this fluctua- 
tion between obedience and disobedience continues with simi- 
lar results in each case. Strange that man is so slow to 
perceive that God means what he says. Right on the heels 
of a sweeping victory at Jericho there follows an inglorious 
defeat at Ai, but God will be glorified in the eyes of his 
people, and even by a chosen leader like the meek Moses 
he cannot for once bear to be misrepresented in the eyes of 
his people. He cannot look upon sin with the least degree 
of allowance. 

OTHER INCIDENTS OF THIS CYCLE. Joshua 
2, 9, 10. — The first of these is the spies who are sent to Jericho 
to gather information. They take refuge in the house of a 
harlot by the name of Rahab. She eludes their pursuers, 
conceals the spies, lets them down over the wall, and makes 
it possible for them to escape. They, in turn, for her faith- 
fulness, promise to protect her and all the household in the 
siege ; this is done. The idealization consists in the divine pro- 
tection of such a low woman who had proved herself faith- 
ful. In the New Testament we find Christ releasing a woman 
from the grip of a body of men who wanted to stone her. 
She is the same kind of woman, but evidently none of her 
accusers is without sin. 



32 BIBLE IDEALS 

The second incident is the deceptive embassy of the 
Gibeonites. These people come in old clothes and in such a 
pitiable condition that Joshua believes their story of woe, 
and promises to protect them. Three days afterwards he 
learns that he has been grossly deceived, that they are his 
neighbors. He, therefore, makes them slaves, hewers of wood 
and drawers of water. These deceivers are quickly over- 
taken by retribution, as were Jacob, David, Saul, Macbeth, 
Hamlet, Brutus, Othello, lago, Leontes, Antony, Cloten and 
hundreds of other characters both in Biblical and secular 
literature. 

The third incident is the league of five kings against the 
Gibeonites for their alliance with Israel. Here the Gibeonites 
find out the value of an alliance with good people. Joshua 
comes to their rescue and gains a great victory. With his 
men and God's hailstones, and the sun and moon standing 
still, he is enabled to drive the kings into utter ruin. The 
five kings are hanged to five trees. 

The miraculous part of this battle calls up "the stars 
fighting against Sisera," Gideon's sweeping victory, Jericho, 
and Sennacherib's defeat. 

DEBORAH'S SONG 

Judges 5. 

In this martial ode we see the Joan of Arc of the Old 
Testament. She is a type of simple faith, a type of deliver- 
ance thru faith. The poem is a war song greater even than 
Flodden Field. 

Israel has been in bondage to the Canaanites for twenty 
years, a bondage almost indescribable. The highways are 
deserted, people being compelled to go in the byways for 
any safety at all. Both person and property are unsafe. 
Jabin is lustful and therefore unbearable. No man can be 
found to initiate a rebellion, but Deborah, whose only ambi- 
tion was to be called a mother in Israel and to do the right 
thing, heads the movement. She secures the co-operation 



BIBLE IDEALS 



of seven of the tribes_, five refusing, engages Barak to help 
her, and moves against the mighty armed hosts of the ene- 
mies. Sisera and Jabin feel themselves invulnerable, but God 
by the storm in the plain of Esdraelon fights for Israel. 

"The stars in their courses fought against Sisera, 
The river Kishon swept them away." 

The invulnerable are driven from the country, and once 
more the children of Israel breathe the sweet air of freedom. 

This poem has about the same degree of idealization as 
has Gideon's deliverance. Since the miraculous is not found 
in secular literature, no comparison can be made outside of 
the Bible. Real genuine heroism is not shown more in Esther 
than in Deborah. With the odds so tremendously against her, 
this gallant leader manifests an Abrahamic faith. 

GIDEON'S BAND 

Judges 6-8. 

A faith that dares is certainly evident here, a faith that 
dares to do the impossible. 

Israel has been for seven years in the bondage of the 
Midianites. Gideon, a simple countryman, is appealed to by the 
angel of the Lord as the nation's deliverer. He is thunder- 
struck at the idea, for he thinks he is nothing, the least of 
the least. Several signs of divine encouragement are given 
him before he consents. 

With thirty-two thousand men he proceeds against the 
host of one hundred and twenty-five thousand men, but God 
tells him he has too many. Gideon asks every man to return 
home who is afraid to proceed; twenty-two thousand prove 
cowards. Still God says, too many, for they will say, we 
did it. "Mine own hand hath saved me." Give them the 
test of drinking in the presence of the enemy, and he that 
lappeth like a dog, take him. This is done, and nine thousand 
seven hundred do not meet the test; only three hundred men 



£4 BIBLE IDEALS 

are left to go against one hundred and twenty-five thousand 
men. Does Gideon waver ? Not in the least. He is buoyed up 
by a dream which is spreading consternation through the 
camps of the Midianites. Each man of his band takes an 
old jar and puts a light in it. Then they surround the 
Midianites and at a signal all break their jars, and thus 
the Midianites are rimmed with light. In consternation they 
fight one another, and great is the destruction. Israel is 
once more free, and remains so for forty years. 

Such faith as is here idealized can be found only in the 
great Bible heroes like Abraham, Elisha, Deborah, and 
Isaiah. Since the faith of each of these is unshakable one 
can hardly show differences in idealization. 

JEPHTHAH'S RASH VOW 
Judges 11. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Jephthah was one of the 
deliverers of Israel from bondage, the theme that is most 
prominent is rashness. 

The Ammonites have held Israel in bondage for twenty 
years. Jepthah, a harlot's son, appears as a deliverer. 
Jephthah promises God that if He will give him success against 
his enemies that he will sacrifice to Him the first person who 
comes out of his house to meet him on his return. 

He gains the victory, and on returning he sees his lovely 
daughter, his only child, coming with timbrels and dances 
to meet him. His heart is pained, but he thinks he must 
keep his rash vow. The unwise father gives his daughter 
but sixty days in which to prepare. This time she spends 
with her girl friends roaming over the hills and old loved 
haunts. 

This slaughter of the innocent is pathetic beyond descrip- 
tion. The father has sixty days to think the matter over, 
and yet does not relent. Even Herod in his rashness is not 
nearly so bad, for John the Baptist was not a kinsman. 



BIBLE IDEALS 35 

Furthermore, Herod was drunk and much excited, in the 
presence of his lords; he was also a king who thought his 
word must be made good. 

RUTH— AN IDYL 

In this lovely idyl we see friendship most beautifully 
idealized. Not only types of friends are presented to us, 
but also ideal Christians. The transition from the carnage 
and roughness of Judges to the love and domestic relations 
of Ruth is delightful. It is almost like finding a flower in 
the burning sands of the desert. 

Famine in Bethlehem drives Naomi and her family into 
Moab, where her husband soon dies. Her sons, contrary 
to Jewish laws, marry Moabite women. Calamity befalls 
Naomi a third time in the death of her two sons. 

On hearing that plenty has come to her native land, 
Naomi kisses her daughters-in-law goodbye and tells them 
to remain in their own country. The charming personality 
of this good woman so wins Orpah and Ruth that they weep 
bitterly and request the privilege of going with her. The 
mother dissuades them by telling them they can have no hope of 
ever obtaining husbands in her oAvn country and that it is 
best for them to remain in their country. Orpah then kisses 
her mother-in-law farewell, but Ruth pleads, 

"Entreat me not to leave thee 
And to return from following thee: 
For whither thou goest, I will go, 
And where thou lodgest, I will lodge; 
Thy people shall be my people. 
And thy God my God; 
Where thou diest, will I die, 
And there will I be buried: 
The Lord do so to me. 
And more also. 
If aught but death part thee and me." 



36 BIBLE IDEALS 

This ideal pledge of friendship wins the loving heart of 
Naomi. Thej set out for Bethlehem and are greeted kindly 
on their arrival. But Naomi has lost her estate and is now 
very poor. Ruth sets herself to work to gain a support by 
gleaning in the field. Boaz is a kinsman of Naomi, there- 
fore the gleaning is done in his field. The master is attracted 
toward Ruth and shows her favors. Naomi plans, according 
to the customs of the day, how a union may be brought 
about. Ruth obeys to the letter and is successful in winning 
the affections of Boaz. The result is a happy marriage. 
Naomi sees again the sunlight of God's presence returning 
to her. Her joy is complete when little Obed, the grand- 
father of David, is laid in her arms. 

The idealization is certainly great. Ruth leaves her own 
father and mother, kinsmen, native land, religion of the 
fatherland, chance to become the wife of another, for uncer- 
tainties. Her love is so great that she gives up these certainties 
to go into poverty, into a new and a strange land, and to 
adopt a new religion. She seems inseparable from Naomi, 
lives only for her. We see here the devotion of a Jonathan, 
an Horatio, a Damon, a John the Evangelist. Such con- 
stancy is heavenly! 

Both Ruth and Naomi are types of Christians in their 
devotion, constancy, spotless lives, perfect obedience, and 
sweet Christian spirit. 

These genuine Christians may be compared with Dorcas, 
Eunice, Lois, Hannah, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. On 
basis of friendship the comparison may be made with 
Jonathan and David, Damon and Pythias, and Jesus and 
John. The examples of friendship idealized in literature 
usually fall short of the beautiful oneness of Ruth and 
Naomi. Too often also there are detracting influences in 
one or the other of the friends, but not so with Ruth and 
Naomi. 



BIBLE IDEALS 37 

THE CYCLE OF SAMUEL 

1 Samuel 1—28. 

Throughout this cycle we see Samuel, a type of right- 
eousness. No more perfect type can be found in the Old 
Testament unless it be Joseph. 

L BIRTH OF SAMUEL. 1 Samuel 1-24.— The theme 
of this story seems to be consecration through prayer. Han- 
nah is finally brought to this high state of Christian 
experience. 

Elkanah, the husband of Hannah, lives up in the hill 
country of Ephraim. Being barren, Hannah feels that a 
curse is upon her. She is taunted with her barrenness by 
Peninnah, the other wife of Elkanah. For years it seems 
that all Hannah desires is to have the curse removed from 
her; but the Lord wants a man, a judge, a prophet. Woman- 
hood is at a very low ebb in Israel. It takes God some time 
to make Hannah great enough in soul to be the mother of the 
great man that he wants. It requires a great woman to be 
the mother of a great man. Finally by prayer in the Temple, 
Hannah comes to the point of promising the Lord that her 
son shall be dedicated to Him from infancy, and be brought 
up in the Temple. When she comes to the point of entire 
consecration, the Lord removes her curse; she bears Samuel, 
and presents him in the Temple to be brought before the 
Lord. 

This bit of idealization is perhaps a hint to mothers. If 
they were more devoted to God's work and needs, if they 
were willing even in the antenatal state of the child to dedi- 
cate him to the Lord, the great dearth in Christian workers 
and especially ministers might be largely removed. As long 
as it is so generally thought that God does not operate on 
the human soul even through the mother's mind, we may 
expect this dearth to continue. 

In some respects, the birth of Samuel may be compared 



38 BIBLE IDEALS 

with that of Isaac, Samson and John the Baptist. In all 
four cases the children were promised, but only in Elizabeth 
and Hannah do we find the deep devotion that worked so 
mightily in making their children strong men of God. 

2. THE CALL OF SAMUEL TO SUCCEED ELI. 

1 Samuel 3-4. — In this story we see righteousness enthroned 
and unrighteousness dethroned. This is a characteristic pro- 
cedure in the Lord's work. 

Eli himself is an excellent priest, but his sons, Hophni 
and Phineas, are profligates, adulterers, and almost if not 
altogether, blasphemers. The Lord tells Eli that his sons 
cannot succeed him, and that they must perish. 

Young Samuel, like Jesus, increases in favor with both 
God and man. At the early age of nine he hears the Lord 
calling him. The first three times he thinks the voice is 
Eli's. The third time Eli sees it is the voice of the Lord, 
and tells the child how to proceed. The fourth time the 
Lord calls. He tells Samuel all that is to happen to Eli and 
his sons. In the morning the boy reveals to Eli his doom 
and that of his sons. 

Later, in the Battle of Ebenezer, the Philistines discomfit 
the Israelites. The Ark is brought up from Shiloh, the Israel- 
ites thinking this would make them successful; but they 
learn that externals alone are not to be trusted in at all, for 
the Philistines kill about thirty thousand of the Israelites 
and capture the Ark of the Covenant. 

When the news of this battle was reported to Eli, he 
fell over backward and broke his neck. 

Righteousness, which is an internal affair, is highly ideal- 
ized. Altho the Ark of the Covenant was brought out, this 
external thing could do them no good, for their hearts were 
not right. God cannot look upon sin with the least degree 
of allowance. Even tho Hophni and Phineas are sons of 
God's high priest they must go down. 

We are reminded in this story of Aaron's two sons who 



BIBLE I D E A LS S9 



offered false fire on the altar and were struck dead. They 
dared defy the law of God^ and met their doom instantly. 
The father was forbidden even to shed a tear. 

3. THE ARK AND THE PHILISTINES. 1 Samuel 
5-7. — Probably in no other scripture have we a better treat- 
ment of sacrilege. The Philistines learn a bitter lesson from 
experience. 

At the battle of Ebenezer the Philistines capture the 
Ark of the Lord. They take it to Ashdod and sacrilegiously 
set it up by their god Dagon, but in the morning they find 
their old idol on his face before the Ark. The image is put 
in its place only to fall down again that night before the 
Ark and break off its hand and head. The people are also 
smitten with tumors and many die. The Ark is removed 
to Gath and afterwards to Ekron with similar results. So 
many perish because of its presence that it is looked upon 
as a scourge. 

Finally the Philistines determine to rid their land of the 
plague. They put the Ark on a new cart and hitch two milch 
kine to it. With the Ark they send five golden tumors and 
five golden mice as a guilt offering so that the plague may 
be stopped. Without a driver the cows are sent away. They 
go lowing up to Bethshemish. For looking into the Ark, the 
people of Bethshemish to the number of fifty thousand and sev- 
enty perish. In consternation the stricken land urges the people 
of Kiriath-Jearim to come and get the Ark. This is done, 
and the Ark finally rests in the house of Abinadab, and 
Eleazor is made priest to keep it. 

This awful scourge for sacrilege reminds one of the hand- 
writing on the wall at Babylon when such gross sacrilege was 
being practiced. Another case like it is the sacrilegious act 
of Aaron's sons in offering strange fire on the altar. All 
along the pathway of history are instances of this flagrant 
sin being committed. God may spare at the time, but the 
reckoning time will come. 



40 BIBLE IDEALS 

4. SAUL ANOINTED KING. 1 Samuel 8-11.— Com- 
promise or man's ways versus God's ways, is the theme of 
this story. As Baalam and Pharaoh were compromisers, so 
were the children of Israel afflicted. 

Samuel is growing old, and his boys like Eli's are a 
curse to him. They love money, twist the law, and are pro- 
fessional grafters. For these reasons the elders of Israel 
meet and tell Samuel about his boys, and ask for a king to 
rule over them. This hurts the faithful old prophet; it sends 
him to prayer. The Lord tells Samuel that it is not himself 
that has been rejected but the Lord. Samuel is further 
counseled to yield to their wishes. 

The prophet sets before them the evils of a king; still 
they clamor for a king. At last he yields to them and anoints 
Saul the son of Kish as king. The young man at the time is 
out after his father's mules. When approached on the subject, 
Saul, like Gideon, declares that he is the least of the least, 
that he is not worthy; but he cannot escape. 

When anointed king, Saul is an excellent young man. 
God gives him a new heart, endows him with the gift of 
prophecy, and fits him for large usefulness. The people 
are astonished that Saul can prophesy. 

The first trial of the new king comes soon. The boastful 
Ammonites proceed against Jabesh, and promise to spare the 
town on condition that all right eyes be gouged out. Seven 
days are asked in which to see Saul and prepare for action. 
He soon raises a large army and completely destroys the 
Ammonites. Then the people proceed to Gilgal to recrown 
him. 

5. ANOINTING OF DAVID. 1 Samuel 16:1-13.— The 
central idea in this story is God's choice versus man's, or inner 
worth versus outward appearances. "Man looketh upon the 
outward appearance, but God looketh upon the heart." 

Saul thru disobedience has lost the crown. The Lord 
tells Samuel to cease mourning for him and go to Bethlehem 



BIBLE IDEALS 41 

and anoint a king for Israel; but the prophet fears and 
replies, "If Saul hears it, he will kill me." God commands 
him to go and sacrifice at Bethlehem^ and while there anoint 
the one pointed out to him. Samuel obeys and sets out for 
Bethlehem. On arriving the elders come tremblingly to meet 
him, asking if he comes peaceably. He assures them he does, 
and invites them to the sacrifice. 

The fine looking sons of Jesse are one by one made to 
pass before the prophet. Samuel is so well pleased with 
the fine countenance and imposing stature of some of them 
that the Lord has to warn him that "the Lord looketh upon 
the heart" and that "man looketh on the outward parts." 
The ruddy-faced lad, David, is not with his big brothers 
but is tending the sheep. Upon inquiry of Samuel, Jesse 
sends for the lad. When he appears, the Lord says to Samuel, 
"Arise, anoint him, for this is he." Then we are told that 
"the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that 
day forward." 

The idealization here is high, for Samuel is a good, old, 
experienced man of God, and yet he is deceived by outward 
appearance. Probably the anointing of the tall young man, 
Saul, had fooled him. 

6. WITCH OF ENDOR. 1 Samuel 2% -.3-25. —Utter 
despair, or the effect of rejecting God, is the theme of this 
lurid piece of imagery. Like the Raven it has no rift in 
the dark clouds for an upper antipodal point. 

Saul has slain all the priests, and now when he needs 
one to communicate with ihe Divine, he has no medium. 
Therefore he seeks the Witch of Endor. Tomorrow he must 
meet the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa. What the outcome is 
to be, he yearns to know. The Witch brings up Samuel 
from the Shades, who tells the monarch that his doom is 
sealed, that on the morrow his people are to be defeated and 
he is to be killed. In utter horror, the king falls prostrate. 

Sad indeed is the fate of the man who was so noble 



42 BIBLE IDEALS 

when young. He was even a prophet, the spirit of God 
operating mightily upon him; but thru disobedience, thru 
rejecting God, he fell into consuming jealousy, envy, hatred, 
malice, revenge and even remorse, a very nest of reptiles 
which he might have avoided. Woe unto the man who, in 
his hour of success, feels himself sufficient and thereby leaves 
his God out of account! Man is never in such a dangerous 
position as when he is on the mountains of worldly success. 
In degree of idealization this poem may be compared 
with Judas, and also Macbeth. Horror is the end of each, 
a fruit that siji bears. 

CYCLE OF SAUL 

1 Samuel 9-28. 

In this cycle we have a type of a good man falling to the 
lowest thru disobedience. We see a noble young man in 
search of his father's mules, finding not only them but also 
a kingdom. Pie is even blessed as a prophet, and rewarded 
with many victories in the early part of his career, before 
he forgets his God. 

1. RAID ON MICHMASH. 1 Samuel 13-14:46.— In 

this story Jonathan is represented as a type of remarkable 
faith, while his father Saul is seen as a type of rashness. 

Inspired by great confidence in God's power, Jonathan, 
with only his armor-bearer, attacks the Philistines who are 
harassing Israel, and discomfits them single-handed. The 
Israelites becoming aware of the victory being won by the 
gallant Jonathan, pursue the Philistines with much slaughter. 
Saul, burning for revenge on his enemies, pronounces a curse 
upon any one who would stop to eat before evening. The 
command is rash to begin with, for who can do his best when 
ravenously hungry? The outcome reveals the lack of wisdom 
and utter rashness of the king. Jonathan being very hungry 
takes a mere taste of honey which revives him. Then the 



BIBLE IDE ALS 4S 



Israelites are so weak for want of food that they fail to 
slaughter the Philistines as Saul had planned. 

At last the hungry Israelites fall on the spoils like wolves 
on their prey. They eat even the blood, and thus sin in 
God's sight. Something must be done; the unclean thing 
must be destroyed. Jonathan confesses to his father what 
he has done. The awful sentence is pronounced by the 
father upon his princely son, but the Israelites defy Saul 
to execute it; thus the noblest of men is saved. 

Faith is idealized here as much as it is in David going 
against Goliath, or Gideon putting to flight the Midianites, 
or Elisha taking prisoner the army sent to surround him. 
In all of these instances the dependence rests solely on God. 
Jonathan shows his great faith in God by many or by few. 
When approaching the garrison of the Philistines, they 
mockingly say to Jonathan, "Come up unto us, and we will 
show you a thing." The heroic prince takes the banter, be- 
lieving God will fight for him, as he does, even causing the 
earth to quake. 

Rashness is idealized here as much as it is in Jephthah 
offering his only daughter as a sacrifice to fulfill a foolish 
vow that he has made. 

2. AMALEKITE WAR. 1 Samuel 15.— Bis obedience 
receives a very high degree of idealization in this story, for 
we see the Lord's own anointed deposed from being king 
because he refuses to carry out God's orders. 

Samuel sends Saul against the old enemy of Israel, tell- 
ing him to destroy everything in the way of life and property. 
Saul, like Aaron's sons and Uzzah, thinks he can do as he 
pleases. Therefore he saves the best of the sheep and cattle, 
and spares Agag, the king of the Amalekites. This angers 
Jehovah, who says to Samuel, "It repenteth me that I have 
set up Saul to be king, for he is turned back from following 
me, and hath not performed my commandment." This causes 
Samuel to cry unto the Lord all night. 



44 BIBLE IDEALS 

The next morning early Samuel goes to meet Saul, who 
is now at Gilgal. On meeting him Saul, thinking a half loaf 
will do for the Lord, says to Samuel, "I have performed the 
commandment of the Lord." But Samuel replies, "What 
meanest this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing 
of the oxen which I hear?" Says Saul, ''They have brought 
them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best 
of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy 
God." Then came the stinging words from the prophet, 
"When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not 
made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed 
thee king over Israel?" Saul again affirms that he has obeyed 
the voice of the Lord, and has brought the sheep and oxen to 
Gilgal to sacrifice. Samuel knowing that Saul has not obeyed, 
replies, "To obey is better than sacrifice," and as an ultima- 
tum he further says to the king, "Because thou hast rejected 
the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being 
king." Saul now confesses his sin, but lays the blame on 
the people. Samuel turns to leave, is restrained by Saul, but 
wrenching away from the monarch, the prophet leaves a 
part of his garment with the unhappy ruler. Saul now 
pleads so hard with Samuel going away that the prophet 
turns and honors him once more. 

To give Saul a lesson in obedience the prophet calls for 
King Agag to be brought before him. Taking a sword, 
Samuel hews the King to pieces. The prophet now leaves 
Saul never more to see him "until the day of his death." 
Long does Samuel mourn for Saul, a fallen soul! 

Saul in his disobedience is guilty of at least two flagrant 
sins. 1. He refuses to destroy everything as commanded. 
2. He lives in the Jewish Age where men are prophets, 
priests and kings. Therefore no king has a right to offer 
sacrifice. This Saul dares to do, thinking he can do as he 
pleases, but when too late he finds out that it is a fearful 
thing to fall into the hands of the living God when opposing 
him. 



BIBLE IDE ALS 45 



This poem may be compared with Moses' sin at the 
rock where he disobediently strikes it twice and does not 
give God the glory, or with the disaster at Ai caused by 
disobedience, or with the deposing of Eli's profligate sons 
and Samuel's greedy boys who had developed into grafters. 
Indeed, is the way of the disobedient hard. 

One of the dire effects of Saul's disobedience was the 
anointing of David by Samuel, which fact we have already 
seen. This caused a bitter feud to arise between the two 
men. 

FEUD BETWEEN SAUL AND DAVID 

1 Samuel 16-31. 

t 
This is what Dr. Moulton calls an Epic History. The 

great underlying principle of it all is jealousy , a consuming 

fire like it is in Othello. 

After David is anointed by Samuel at Bethlehem, the 
spirit of the Lord departs from Saul, and he becomes troubled 
with an evil spirit instead. David is sent for, to charm away 
the spirit by means of his music. The monarch is much 
pleased with the lad as long as he is not jealous of David. 

The Philistines are encamped against the Israelites, each 
on opposite mountains. For forty days, Goliath, a giant nine 
feet and four inches tall, heavily armed, comes out in the 
valley and defies Israel. David coming up from tending 
his father's sheep hears the taunt and takes it up. He says, 
"Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy 
the armies of God?" Eliab, his oldest brother, berates the 
youth, asking why he left the sheep, and taunting him with 
the epithet "proud." David turns away from him, goes to 
Saul, and tells him that he will fight the Philistine; but Saul 
replies that he is too small and that he is a youth. David 
assures him that he can conquer the giant, for he has suc- 
ceeded in slaying single-handed a lion and a bear that 
attacked his sheep. Then says Saul, "Go, and the Lord be 
with thee." 



46 BIBLE IDEALS 

Saul puts his armor on the little fellow, but David re- 
jects it, for he has not tried it. Taking a sling and five 
smooth stones he goes to meet the giant. Goliath is disgusted 
and says to the youth, "Am I a dog that thou comest to me 
with stones?" Then Goliath tells David to come to him that 
he may give David's flesh to the fowls of the air. David re- 
plies to him in substance that he comes in the power of the 
Lord whose armies the Philistine has defied, and that he 
trusts in God and not in arms as does the Philistine. David 
tells him plainly that, "The Lord saveth not with sword and 
spear," and that his doom has come. The monster makes 
for David, while at the same time the youth runs toward him 
and slings a stone which buries itself in his forehead. The 
giant falls on his face, and David seizes his sword and 
beheads him. The Israelites then pursue and slaughter many 
of the Philistines until they come to Ekron. 

As a result of this fight, David is made general of the 
king's armies. In everything he conducts himself wisely, 
as becomes a man of God. But one day when the general is 
returning from a victory over the Philistines the women 
come out of the cities dancing and singing: "Saul has slain 
his thousands and David his ten thousands." This so angers 
Saul and stirs up his jealousy that he determines to kill 
David, for says he, "What can he have more but the king- 
dom!" The evil spirit comes upon the monarch and he 
hurls his javelin at David, but the Lord is with his own. 
Then Saul plans to have him killed by demanding a hundred 
foreskins from the Philistines for the hand of his daughter 
Michal who has fallen in love with the ruddy youth. David 
gives him two hundred and marries his daughter, but he 
becomes even more attached to Jonathan, who "loved him as 
his own soul.** 

Saul is more and more determined to take David's life. 
He even tries to get Jonathan and his servants to slay him; 
but Jonathan brings about a temporary reconciliation. This, 
however, lasts but for a brief time. David wins new laurels 



BIBLE IDEALS 47 

in a war with the Philistines, thus causing Saul's jealousy 
to be fanned to a flame. Saul's daughter has even to let 
her husband down from a window that David may escape 
the messengers of the king sent to slay him. The hardness 
of Saul's heart may be seen from the fact that he wants to 
slay David with his own hands when his daughter reports 
to him that her husband is sick. A bogus sick man is sub- 
stituted by Michal, much to the disgust of Saul. 

David is now an outcast pursued by Saul. Jonathan, at- 
tempting to defend him, narrowly escapes being pierced thru 
by a spear which his father hurls at him. At one time the 
fugitive David is compelled to play crazy in order to escape. 
He now takes refuge in the cave of Adullam, where he collects 
a band of four hundred men. 

Saul in desperation goes so far as to kill eighty-five 
priests who seem to have given David something to eat when 
he was famishing. All the priests perish except Abiathar, 
who escapes to David. Even their city with all the women 
and children is destroyed by the jealous demon. Is it any 
wonder that Saul had to go to the Witch of Endor when he 
desired to know the will of the Lord? 

David is pursued by Saul from one hiding place to an- 
other. When in the cave of Engedi, David comes upon Saul 
and cuts off the tail of his garment, but restrains his men 
from slaying the king. When David is gone some distance 
from the place, he holds up the severed part of the garment 
to show Saul how kind he has been to him. This touches 
the king's heart, causing him to weep and make a covenant 
of safety with David, at least for his posterity. The king 
for the time being gives up the pursuit, but David stays on 
the safe side. 

Not long after this Saul learns that David is in the hill 
of Hachilah. Again the King proceeds against his son-in-law, 
and again Saul is delivered into David's hands, for while 
Saul and his army are asleep, David and Abishai come up 
and take Saul's spear and cruse of water which are at his 



48 BIBLE IDEALS 

head. David restrains Abishai from killing Saul. Standing 
away on top of a mountain David upbraids Abner for not 
guarding the king better. When Saul sees again how precious 
his life has been in David's sight, he repents and asks him 
to return, but a treacherous serpent can not be trusted. David 
despairing of any safety in the land of Israel, goes over and 
seeks quarters with the Philistines. They seem glad to have 
David and his army, and give them a place to live. Here 
they dwell for one year and four months. 

This sad feud ends as evil always must end, in the 
destruction of the evil one. The Philistines go up against 
Saul on Mount Gilboa, but David does not accompany the 
Philistine army. In a severe battle Saul's three sons are 
slain, and the army defeated. Saul in despair begs a man 
to kill him, but the soldier refuses. The unhappy, sin-cursed, 
vengeful, demonized man then runs on his own sword. 

In this bit of epic history, jealousy is given an idealiza- 
tion that seems to make it the food of demons. As in Othello, 
cyclone-like it sweeps the soul rapidly into the vortex of 
destruction. In Leontes, Posthumous, Claudio, General Chas. 
Lee, Joseph's brothers, Cain and the Pharisees, we find par- 
allels with their awful accompaniments. 

DAVID'S ADULTERY 
2 Samuel 11-19. 

The theme of this story is retribution. "Be not deceived, 
God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall 
he also reap." Tho a great king, David could not escape 
the awful results. 

The king coming out in his house-top sees a beautiful 
woman bathing. He is enamoured at once, tho she is Uriah's 
wife. He sends for her, and commits the blackest of all 
sins. Then he practices deceit upon the husband, even going 
so far as get him drunk in order to cause him to go to his 
home. But neither by flattery, as on the first meeting of 
David and Uriah, nor by drunkenness does David succeed. 



BIBLE I D E ALS 49 



He must resort to more extreme means. He has Joab put 
Uriah in the very forefront of the battle, and has him 
murdered. 

Bath-Sheba mourns for her husband. At the end of this 
mourning, David takes her to wife. 

The Lord is very much displeased v^ith David's heinous 
sin. He sends Nathan to David to cause the king to pro- 
nounce sentence upon himself. This David does unwittingly. 
The greedy rich man, of whom Nathan speaks, seizes the 
one little lamb of the poor man, instead of going to his own 
great flocks. This so enrages David, that he instantly de- 
clares such should restore the lamb fourfold. Says Nathan, 
"Thou art the man," 

The father's infamy starts a feud among David's sons 
which is more destructive than the one which once obtained 
among Jacob's sons. The king's sins are naturally visited 
upon his children. 

Amnon loves his half-sister Tamor, who is Absalom's own 
sister. Thru treachery Amnon succeeds in disgracing his 
sister, a matter which is worse than death to her, Absalom 
bides his time and kills the adulterous beast about two years 
afterwards. This causes Absalom to flee from the presence 
of David for three years. Then he is brought from Geshur 
to Jerusalem, but for two years the king will not see him. 
This act of David is only hardening Absalom as Gloster 
hardened the heart of his son Edmund. 

Now Absalom, the beautiful young man, so suave, so 
kind to every one, steals the hearts of the people. Feigning 
to the king that he wants to go and worship, he sets out 
for Hebron and is proclaimed king. David flees from Jeru- 
salem, and if Absalom had moved immediately, David would 
soon have been no more. But Absalom's delay causes his 
downfall, for Joab is soon strong enough to meet Absalom 
and annihilate him. 

The four children whose cold dead lips David had to kiss 
as a result of his own adultery are (1) Bath-Sheba's child. 



50 BIBLE IDEALS 

(2) Tamar, (3) Amnon, (4) Absalom. In addition, his 
own great sin is the very thing which led up to Absalom's 
rebellion and death, which almost tore his very heart out of 
him. 

Rarely in literature do we find such a high degree of 
idealization. It is paralleled to some extent by Jacob's de- 
ception practiced by him on his old blind father, and then 
returned upon him by his own boys. Throughout Shakespeare 
as well as the Bible, we find the ravages of retribution, but 
none perhaps worse than in David's case. 

ELISHA CYCLE 

2 Kings 2-13. 

Faith and obedience seem to be the organizing idea in 
this cycle. Elisha was the most worthy successor of Elijah. 

1. ELISHA PARTING FROM ELIJAH. 2 Kings 
2:1-18. — Making first things first, is the inspiring theme of 
this story. Like Mary who chose that better part, so Elisha 
pleads for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. He 
desires to be a worthy successor to the great prophet and a 
true representative of God. 

Elijah seems to be testing Elisha to see if his heart is 
fixed. Three times the old prophet tells Elisha to tarry 
while he goes to Bethel, to Jericho, and to the Jordan, but 
three times the request is refused in these words, "As the 
Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." 
Just as one should never lose sight of the Christ, so Elisha 
is determined never to leave his channel of communication 
with God. 

When they reach the Jordan, Elijah strikes the waters 
with his mantle, causing them to recede so he and Elisha 
can pass over on dry ground. Then Elisha makes his famous 
request of Elijah. "I pray thee, let a double portion of 
thy spirit be upon me." This is said in reply to the 
prophet saying to him: "Ask what I shall do for thee. 



BIBLE IDEALS 5£ 

before I be taken from thee." Elijah replies, "Thou hast 
asked a hard thing: nevertheless if thou see me when I am 
taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall 
not be so." The idea seems to be that Elisha must keep his 
mind fixed on the right to the very last, just as one must 
never take his eye off of Jesus. "And it came to pass, as 
they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared 
a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both 
asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 
And Elisha saw it, and cried. My father, my father, the 
chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" 

Elisha after this wonderful experience picks up the 
prophet's mantle and returns to the Jordan, smiting it as 
Elijah had done, with the same result. On meeting the 
fifty sons of the prophets who had been watching the move- 
ments as far as possible, these fifty ask if they may hunt for 
Elijah to see if he is not somewhere among the mountains. 
At first Elisha refuses, but to please their whim he grants 
the request. After searching for three days they return 
without EKjah, as Elisha knew they would. 

This is one of the striking incidents of the Scriptures 
where first things are made first, a thing so rarely done in 
life. It calls up (1) Solomon choosing wisdom rather 
than riches, (2) Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with 
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a 
season, (3) Abraham's unselfish choice, (4) Jesus* 
choosing to make his Messiahship spiritual. While such 
mountain peaks of faith are rare, yet it should be understood 
as Biblical and according to reason that Jesus will not take 
a second place in any one's heart. He must be made first 
or not at all. Scripture, reason and experience are as clear 
as daylight on this point. 

THE HEALING OF THE WATERS. 2 Kings 2:19- 
22. — The little incident is typical of healing. The waters of the 
eity are naught, yet the city is a pleasant sight. When this 



52 BIBLE IDEALS 

is told to Elisha^ he takes a cruse containing salt and purifies 
the waters. This water healed by Elisha has remained good 
until the present time. 

The incident may be typical of the healing of the human 
soul by the Divine. The unregenerated soul is not pure at 
its fountain and therefore needs divine healing that will 
abide. 

3. THE MOCKING CHILDREN. 2 Kings 2 :23-25.— 
The theme is irreverence which is so common and repre- 
hensible. 

The prophet is on his road to Bethel when some children 
begin to taunt him, saying, "Go up, thou bald head, go up, 
thou bald head." Elisha turns back and pronounces a curse 
in the name of the Lord on the irreverent children. Two 
bears come out of the woods immediately and tear forty-two 
of them. The prophet then continues his journey to Mount 
Carmel. 

This is certainly an awful lesson to irreverent people. 
It reminds us of the irreverence done to the Lord's vessels 
at the feast of Belshazzar when he had to view the ominous 
handwriting on the wall. Also we recall Aaron's sons choos- 
ing unholy fire and attempting to offer it on the altar. The 
God of Israel in each case showed clearly that his commands 
must be respected and obeyed. 

4. THE WATER TRENCHES. 2 Kings 3:4-27.— -As 
in hundreds of places in the Scripture, one sees here the provi- 
dence of God idealized. 

Israel is threatened by the Moabites. King Jehoram 
appeals to Jehosaphat, Judah's king, to help him. The 
latter agrees to do so. Elisha is appealed to when the army 
is threatened with destruction from thirst. He tells them that 
for Jehosaphat's sake he will act. They are ordered to dig 
the valley full of trenches. These are filled with water 
without any rain. When the Moabites look on the valley, 
the;^ think that the water is bloody and that the Israelites 



BIBLE I DE A LS 53 



have destroyed themselves. The Moabites proceed to the 
camps of Israel for pillage and the Israelites fall on them 
and gain a great victory. 

This recalls Sennacherib's invasion^ Gideon's three hun- 
dred, Joshua's blowing the ram's horn at Jericho, and many 
other similar incidents where the Lord caused his people to 
gain a great victory. 

5. THE VESSELS OF OIL. 2 Kings 4;l-7.— The cen- 
tral idea in this story is God our source. This consoling idea 
is also common in the Bible. To those who trust God, he is 
always found sufficient. 

We see a woman very much distressed, for she is in debt, 
and her two sons are to be taken for the debt. She appeals 
to Elisha, reminding him that her husband is dead and that 
he had been a good man. The prophet asks her what she 
has in her house; her reply is a pot of oil, nothing more. 
Elisha tells her to borrow all the jars she can, go to her 
house, shut herself and two boys in, pour out the oil into 
the jars. This she does until all are full, and then she 
asks for another jar which can not be furnished. The oil 
ceases to flow then. Now she sells enough to pay her debt, 
and lives oif of the rest of it just as the good Elisha had 
directed her. 

This comforting story reminds us of Elijah and the cruse 
of oil that never diminished; also the miracle at Cana, the 
feeding of the five thousand where we see Christ a sufficiency, 
also the feeding of the four thousand. No parallels to these 
are found in secular literature, for the miraculous does not 
play a part in such. Man can write and act only as man, but 
God moves heaven-high above man. 

6. THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN. 2 Kings 4 :8-37.— 
This woman is a type of devotion to the Lord, unselfishness, 
reciprocity, faith and persistence in prayer. She is an ideal 
Christian, or what a true Christian ought to be. 

Even the Lord calls her a great woman living in Shunem. 



54 BIBLE IDEALS 

She invites the prophet in to eat with her; then asks her 
aged husband to build a room to their house for the preacher, 
and furnish it so that he will turn in and rest whenever he 
comes that way. Hospitality certainly reigned in that 
woman's heart. 

The prophet is so pleased with his room that he asks 
the woman what he shall do for her. Like Herve Riel she 
asked nothing for her hospitality, but Gehazi reminds Elisha 
that she is barren. The prophet tells her she is to be blessed 
with a child, but like Sarah of old, she doubts. Neverthe- 
less as the prophet foretells, the child is born in due time and 
grows to manhood. But one day when in the field with his 
father he puts his hands to his head and exclaims, "My head, 
my head." He is carried to his mother and put in her arms 
where he soon dies. She carries him to the prophet's bed, 
speeds away to Carmel for Elisha, and beseeches him to 
come and help her. She will not let him go until he promises 
to accompany her. On arriving at Shunem he stretches him- 
self twice on the young man, life comes back to him. The 
mother in joy and thankfulness prostrates hereslf to the 
ground before the prophet. 

This may be compared with Martha and Mary losing their 
brother. The faith of the Shunammite is more highly ideal- 
ized, for she appears to trust the prophet to restore her son 
to her. 

7. NAAMAN THE LEPER. 2 Kings 5.— Obedience is 
the central idea in this story. This is one of the most strik- 
ing illustrations of the effects of strict obedience. 

Naaman, the Syrian general, is a leper. A little Jewish 
maid in his household tells Naaman's wife that a prophet in 
Samaria can cure him. The king sends Naaman to the King 
of Israel. The latter rends his clothes when he learns of 
Naaman's mission, but Elisha hears of the general, and sends 
for him to come down. Naaman goes down expecting the 
prophet to come out and wave his hand in some way and 
call on the Lord of heaven to heal him. But instead, Elisha 



BIBLE IBE ALS 55 



does not even come to the door. He sends a messenger to 
tell Naaman to dijD himself seven times in the river Jordan. 
This enrages the general, for Elisha is not doing just as 
Naaman thought he would do. Man's thought does not 
change God's j^lans to man's Avay. Some personal workers 
go to Naaman and reason with him, telling him that if the 
prophet had told him to do any great thing, how quickly 
he would have done it. He sees the point and goes to 
bathe in the Jordan as directed, and comes again to the 
prophet entirely cured. He begs Elisha to take pay but 
the latter refuses outright. 

The servant of Elisha, Gehazi, has an eye for profit. His 
greedy soul cannot let such an opportunity pass. He there- 
fore runs after Naaman, lies to him, and receives two talents 
of silver and two changes of raiment. When he returns he 
has to lie to Elisha, but the prophet tells him that his heart 
went with him, and that for his perfidy the leprosy of 
Naaman shall light on him and his seed forever. And we 
are told that "he went out from his presence a leper as 
white as snow." Fearful indeed are the consequences of diso- 
bedience to right. Deception and greed have wrought sad 
havoc through the centuries. 

This idealization of obedience is well worked out. We 
are reminded of the obedience of Abraham, Joshua, Gideon, 
and Moses, and the disobedience of Uzzah, Aaron's sons, and 
Saul. Life, joy, and success come through obedience, but 
turmoil, anguish and death come through disobedience. 

8. ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE ELISHA. 2 Kings 6: 
8-23. — The themes of this story are: (1) The sufficiency of 
the Lord. (2) The right spirit toward enemies. God is 
ever all-sufficient to the one who relies completely on Him. 

The Syrians are irritated because Elisha informs the King 
of Israel of every move made by his enemies. The King of 
Syria therefore sends horses and chariots and a great host 
to take Elisha at Dothan. When the servant of Elisha sees 
the hosts of the enemy surrounding them, he fears and tells 



56 BIBLE IDEALS 

Elisha about it. The latter prays the Lord to open the young 
man's eyes so that he may see that the forces for Elisha are 
greater than those against him. As the young man beholds 
the mountain filled with horses and chariots of fire, he, no 
doubt, realizes how little has been his faith. The need of 
most Christians is to get their spiritual eyes open. Too often 
only material objects can be seen. Elisha prays again that 
the Syrians may be struck blind. He then leads the blind 
hosts to Samaria before his king. The latter asks twice if 
he may smite them. "No," says the grand old hero of God, 
"give them something to eat." After Elisha restores their 
sight and feeds them well, he sends them home in peace. 

Such idealization not only of the all-sufficiency of God, 
but also the right spirit toward enemies ! Even in the boasted 
Christian civilization of modern times, it hardly has a parallel. 
Perhaps some little approach toward it may be seen in Grant 
at Appomattox, and the United States in the Cuban war. 

On the point of sufficiency of God we may compare this 
poem with Feeding the Five Thousand, and Pentecost. 

9. SIEGE OF SAMARIA. 2 Kings 6:24-7:20. Eaith 
in God's word seems to be the most prominent idea in this 
story. Elisha had shown himself on many occasions to be the 
true mouthpiece of God, and should have been believed by the 
captain on whose hand the king leaned. Viewed from an- 
other standpoint the theme is the effect of unbelief. 

Benhadad has besieged the city of Samaria. A famine 
has set in, and so dreadful is it that children are being eaten. 
The king is grief-stricken and ready to give up. All faith has 
gone from the captain. In the face of this dire need, and 
also in the face of a threat of the king to take Elisha*s 
head, the prophet tells the people, "Tomorrow about this time 
shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two 
measures of barley for a shekel in the gates of Samaria." 
The captain makes light of it and says if the Lord would 
open the windows of heaven, it could not be. Elisha replies 
that he shall see it but not enjoy it. 



BIBLE IDEALS 57 

That night four lepers in desperation visit the enemies* 
camp and find it deserted. They fill themselves with the 
spoils^ hiding a goodly quantity, and then inform the king, who 
sends men with the five remaining horses to reconnoitre. 
They find the Syrians have fled in desperation, thinking the 
Hittites and Egyptians are in hot pursuit. The prophecy of 
Elisha comes literally true, but the captain meets his doom 
at the very moment because of his unbelief. 

On basis of degree of idealization very few stories in the 
Bible rise higher. Uzzah and the Ark, Aaron's sons and 
the unholy fire, the unfaithful Israelites who would not be- 
lieve it possible to possess the Promised Land, are similar 
cases. One is also reminded of Sennacherib's invasion, 
Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, Deborah's victory, and 
Gideon with his famous band. In each of these the Lord 
brings about great victory for his people who believe on 
him. 

Very few cycles can be favorably compared with the 
Elisha cycle. In point of greatness of faith, Elijah, Joshua, 
and Abraham, may be cited. These were mighty men of 
God, because of the greatness of their faith. They were 
not afflicted with the modern disease of men — fear of being 
called fanatics. 

ESTHER— AN EPIC HISTORY. 

This interesting epic may have for its theme deliverance, 
retribution, sacnjice, and providence of God. Esther is also 
a type of shrewdness. 

In the poem we are raised from pride, haughtiness, 
treachery, plot for wholesale murder, to true humility, open 
dealing, and deliverance. 

The voluptuous king, Ahasuerus, has made a great feast 
for his lords. He commands that his beautiful Queen Vashti 
appear before them. On refusing to do so, she is deposed 
by the king in order to show other wives that they should 
obey their husbands. 



58 BIBLE IDEALS 

From all the beautiful maidens assembled out of the one 
hundred and twenty-seven provinces, the king selects a Jewess 
as his queen, and celebrates the choice with another great 
feast. 

A common man, Haman, has been elevated as second man 
in the kingdom. He, being a bigot, determines that every 
one shall bow to him; but Mordecai, the adopted father of 
Esther, refuses. This angers the bigot very much and causes 
him to secure from the king permission to have a general 
massacre of all the Jews in the kingdom on a certain appointed 
day. 

Mordecai hears of the plot and informs Esther. She at 
the risk of her life goes into the presence of the King. Says 
she, "If I perish, I perish." The king, who has not seen her 
for thirty days, throws down his scepter to her and asks her 
request. She invites him and Haman to a banquet the next 
day. They accept and are royally entertained by the charm- 
ing queen. Again the request is asked for by the king, and 
again the queen invites them to another banquet on the mor- 
row. Haman goes out feeling that all is pleasant with him 
except that one shadow that has come across his life, viz., 
Mordecai. He erects a scaffold and determines to hang the 
man. Esther sees to it that the story of how he was saved 
from the hands of assassins by one Mordecai is read to the 
king at night. 

The next morning Haman comes to the king to get per- 
mission to hang Mordecai, when the monarch cries out to 
him, "What shall be done unto the man whom the king de- 
lights to honor.''" Haman, conceited enough to think the 
king means him, tells Ahasuerus to have him put on the king's 
royally caparisoned horse and escorted through the streets 
by one of the greatest princes of the city. Says the king, 
"Go and be Mordecai's escort and do him that honor." Al- 
most like one about to have the black cap pulled down over 
his face, Haman proceeds to do this, and then rushes home 
to pour his troubles into his wife's ears. She tells him she 



BIBLE IDEALS 59 

sees the shadows thickening. Just then the messenger comes 
to bring him to the second feast. Again the request of 
Esther is asked for by the king. Says the queen, "My life, 
and that of my people; for we are sold, I and my people, 
to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish." The king in great 
surprise asks, "Who dares to do such a thing?" Quick is the 
reply, "this wicked Haman." The king rises in his wrath and 
goes into his garden. Haman on his knees pleads with the 
queen. Just then the king returns, mistakes the motives of 
Haman, and cries out, "Hang him on his own scaffold." This 
is done immediately. 

Now the awful edict must be averted. Mordecai, who has 
been put in Haman's place, through Esther secures an edict 
that the Jews can defend themselves on the day of slaughter, 
since an edict cannot be annulled after it has been sent forth. 
The satraps all over the empire learning that a Jew is over 
them, dare not fight against him; hence on the fatal day and 
also the day following, the Jews have a great triumph over 
their enemies. 

Sacrifice is highly idealized here, for Esther could not 
have done more than risk her life. She had all to lose, being 
queen of the empire, and nothing material to gain. She 
becomes a type of a great deliverer foreshadowing the Christ, 
the supreme deliverer. In this she becomes one of the world's 
greatest heroines. Her shrewdness compares favorably with 
that of Portia in the Trial Scene in the Merchant of Venice. 
Again, Haman is one of the Bible's best types of a man 
reaping what he has sown. Throughout the poem, too, we 
see the providence of God looking after his own. 

This poem can be compared with Deborah's deliverance, 
and as we have said, with that greatest of all deliverances in 
Jesus Christ. From the standpoint of retribution this poem 
may be compared with a score of Shakespeare's plays. When 
we consider the fearful result to the future of the world if 
Haman' dastardly plot had been executed, the idealization 
may be considered higher than in any one of Shakespeare's 



60 BIBLE ID E ALS 



plays. But for vivid portrayal and blood curdling acts, some 
of Shakespeare's plays excel the book of Esther. 

JOB 

In no other book of the Bible do we find a higher idealiza- 
tion of the mountain heights of faith. No one could go higher 
than Job did when he said, "Though he slay me, yet will I 
trust him.'* 

The form of this book is not only epic, but also lyric 
and dramatic. Its great hero is Job, and the whole poem 
is in a sublime strain. Delightful bits of song are inter- 
spersed in the book; for instance, the lyric beginning, "Let 
the day perish wherein I was born." Then we rarely find 
in the Bible or out of it a dramatic situation more striking 
than the Councils in Heaven, or Job sitting on the ashpile 
with his accusing friends around him. 

To begin with we see Job one of the most perfect of men. 
Even God testifies to this fact on more than one occasion. 
When Job's children have a jubilee the father sacrifices for 
them, fearing lest they may have sinned. Job is faultless, 
sweet tempered, and self-sacrificing. 

We are next taken to a Council in Heaven where God 
asks Satan if he has observed his servant Job, how perfect 
he is. Satan replies, "Doth Job serve God for nought?" 
"Try him," says God, "and see if our word is true." The 
trial is made. The Sabeans fall on his cattle; the fire from 
God, on his sheep; the Chaldeans, on his camels; the wind 
destroys all of his children. When Job in one day finds 
himself propertyless and childless he says, "The Lord gave, 
and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the 
Lord." Such faith is remarkable, but still we are to see 
higher flights. 

A Second Council is held in heaven. Again the Lord 
says to Satan, "Hast thou considered my servant, Job.^* For 
there is none like him in the earth, perfect and upright." 
Satan replies, "Skin for skin, all that a man hath, will he 



BIBLE IDEALS 61 

give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch 
his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy 
face/' God replies, "Behold, he is in thine hand; only spare 
his life." 

Now comes Job's fearful torture of boils. His wife comes 
in and says, "Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity.'* Curse 
God and die." But Job mildly answers: "Shall we receive 
good at the hand of God and not evil?" 

Job now goes to the ashpile and sits there in silence, 
day after day. The funmakers are no doubt many. But the 
news of this strange scene reaches distant lands, and his 
friends hearing of it come to see him. On their arrival they 
are so impressed with the solemnity of the scene that they 
remain in silence seven days weeping. 

Finally Job breaks silence by saying: "Let the day perish 
wherein I was born." 

This justification of Job by himself is too much for his 
friends. They openly charge him with sin, for the common 
idea with the Jews, even in Paul's time, was that disease re- 
sults from sin. Stately Eliphaz, blunt Bildad, and old man 
Zopher think they are holding up the majesty of God. 

Let us note the awful condition of Job when his friends 
attack him. He could not rest day or night. Pieces of 
flesh were falling from his body. He says: 

"I loathe my life ; 
I would not live alway. 
I hate my life; 
I despise my life." 

Job is not in a condition to take kindly these unjust 
charges. He grows sarcastic, and says to them: 

"No doubt ye are the people. 
And wisdom will die with you." 

He further justifies himself and complains that God will 
not hear him; but he holds fast his integrity to the last^ 
saving in an agony of suffering: 



62 BIBLE IDEA LS 

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." 

Now Elihu, man of wisdom, takes the matter up. He 
says he has waited for days, i. e., age, to speak, but they 
know nothing. Now says he, "One that is perfect in knowl- 
edge is with thee." 

He sputters and fumes like a two-drive-wheel engine 
hitched to a mountain. We are told that he groans like the 
storm raging around him. But Job and even the three friends, 
treat him in silent contempt just as Jesus treated Herod. 

At this moment God interferes and asks: 

"Who is this that darkeneth counsel with words?" 

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the 
earth }" 

"Who did the measuring.''" 

There pours forth one stern quesuon right after another 
until the poor man feels a little as if he has been struck by a 
cyclone. 

God now arraigns Job too. 

Job is at first speechless, but recovering himself he 
replies : 

"I abhor myself, and repent 
In dust and ashes." 

The three friends who have thought themselves the very 
quintessence of righteousness, are now fearfully arraigned. 
They are told that for safety they must have Job sacrifice 
for them. God tells them that Job was honest in what he 
said, though it was wrong; but that they were not honest. 
You twisted things to stand in with me; Job did not. Here 
we see clearly that God is on the side of inquiry. 

Like the restoration in Sir Launfal, Cymbeline, and 
Winter's Tale, Job is rewarded with twice the wealth and 
influence he had before; also with seven sons and five 
daughters more. 

This bit of idealization that proceeds so majestically step 
b^ step up the mdimtain heights of faith^ has perhaps no pa?" 



BIBLE IDEALS 6£ 

allel unless it be in Moses, Abraham, Paul, and Christ. Having 
so much of the miraculous in it, we cannot come into the 
realm of secular literature for comparison. 

TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. 

The 'providence of God is most beautifully portrayed in 
a series of changing situations. The imagery in the Bible 
permits a crowding of images which is not allowed in secular 
literature. Thus the metaphor is frequently changed. 

This singing psalm, this winging psalm, this superb classic, 
begins with a beautiful pastoral scene. Each line explains 
itself, and the whole presents to us a picture of security, 
tranquility, and attractiveness perhaps unequaled by any of 
Wordsworth's heavenizing of nature. 

"The Lord is my shepherd; 
I shall not want." \ 

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; 
He leadeth me beside the still waters. 
He restoreth my soul; 

He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's 
sake. 

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil; 

For thou art with me: 

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." 

Now such a change — we see a different image in almost 
every line. Just as God is with man to protect in the first 
scene, so in the siege which is next placed before us: 

"Thou preparest a table before me 
In the presence of mine enemies." 

It seems that there is dire need of food, but God mys- 
teriously provides a table right in the presence of the enemies, 
and shows that he takes care of his own. 



64 BIBLE IDEALS 

Then we go to a festal scene where the guest is highly 
honored, and there is a feast of reason and a flood of good 
things : 

"Thou anointest my head with oil; 
My cup runneth over." 

The monarch minstrel now feels such a buoyancy of hope 
from his cup running over that he throws a lifetime pilgrimage 
before us, assuring us that God will ever be with us. 

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of 
my life." 

This is certainly a comforting assurance, and from the 
very positive way the psalmist puts it, we see that he has no 
doubts whatever. Surely these twin angels of God's mercy 
will be his constant companions. 

The psalmist now returns to the church for his imagery, 
or he may consider this world but as God's own large house 
decorated for his children, filled with beauty and swung out 
in a diadem of worlds. He says with assurance: 

"I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." 

The faith in God's keeping power, that breathes through- 
out this psalm, is comforting and inspiring, an idealization 
rarely equaled. We are reminded of Psalm Seventy-one, The 
Good Shepherd in John ten. Consider the Lilies, The Guard- 
ian Angel, and Ode to a Waterfowl. 

SIXTEENTH PSALM. 

Probably in no poem is 'personal consecration more highly 
idealized. In the sixty-second psalm, we have the words: 

"My soul waiteth only upon God." 

But this psalm does not elaborate the idea as much as 
the sixteenth. Here we have the same idea in: 

"I have no good beyond thee." 



BIBLE IDEALS G5^ 

Also in: 

"I have set the Lord always before me/* 

The author seems to be ever conscious of the presence of 
God, and furthermore he is altogether satisfied with the 
Divine. 

Beautifully does he begin this lyric: 

"Preserve me, O God: 
For in thee do I put my trust." 

As beautifully does he continue: 

"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, 
Yea, I have a goodly heritage." 

His joyous contemplation of his relations with the Divine 
does not stop even with life, for he says: 

"Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol." 

The picture of the righteous throughout the poem is one 
that glows with divine loveliness ; it is heightened by slight 
reference to the condition of those who oppose God. The 
psalm ends with one of the most precious of divine utterances: 

"In thy presence is fulness of joy. 
At thy right hand are pleasures evermore." 

THIRTIETH PSALM. 

The lyric was occasioned by the bringing of the Ark from 
the house of Obed Edom up to Jerusalem. Its theme is 
trust. 

David has been for some time in the slough of despond- 
ency, trusting in himself. The death of Uzzah depressed 
him and caused doubts to arise. But in this exulting lyric 
we see the sun shining again; he has passed from self trust 
to divine trust. His soul is filled with ecstasies as he con- 
templates God's goodness and extols him. He sings of the 



66 BIBLE IDEALS 

Lord's delivering him from his enemies, from his boasting 
self, and from Sheol. He rejoices in the brevity of the 
Lord's anger and the perpetuity of Jehovah's favor, also in 
the fact that his weeping has turned into j oy ; his mourning 
into dancing, and his sackcloth into gladness. Exultingly he 
ends his song with the words; 

"O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever." 

Psalm thirty-seven has the same general theme, but it is 
not so highly idealized. One seems to come into closer heart 
touch with God in reading Psalm thirty. 

THIRTY-SEVENTH PSALM. 

This great acrostic meditation treats vividly Trust in 
God versus Trust in Worldliness. The idealization is so high 
as to grip the soul for great good. 

In the seventy-third psalm the poet says: 

"My steps had well nigh slipped. 
For I was envious of the arrogant 
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.** 

In the thirty-seventh psalm through a wider vision he has 
gained the victory over his doubts. Says he: 

"Fret not thyself because of evil-doers. 
Neither be thou envious against them that work unrighteous- 
ness. 
For they shall soon be cut down like grass, 
And wither as the green herb." 

In every illustration drawn from the evil side of life, the 
vanity of worldly greatness is vividly portrayed. We cite a 
typical illustration: 

"I have seen the wicked in great power, 
And spreading himself like a green bay tree; 
But one passed by, and, lo, he was not: 
Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.'* 



BIBLE IDEALS 67 

The brevity of the reign of the wicked^ his vanity, the 
certainty of his destruction, are repeatedly set forth in the 
Meditation. 

On the other hand in delightful contrast, the peace, the 
sufficiency of God to the righteous, are given in almost divine 
touches : 

"Delight thyself in the Lord, 
And he will give thee the desires of thine heart." 

"Commit thy way unto the Lord: 
Trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass." 

"Rest in the Lord 
And wait patiently for him.** 

"Those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the 
land." 

"Better is a little that the righteous hath, 
Than the abundance of many wicked." 

"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. 
For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." 

"I have been young, and now am old. 
Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his 
seed begging bread." 

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright. 
For the latter end of that man is peace." 

Such statements can come only from the heart of a lover. 
Changing the phrasing a little we may say: 

"Jehovah, lover of my soul. 
Let me to thy bosom fly." 

One feels perfect assurance as he reads the psalm. The 
contrasts too are striking. 

The psalm might be compared with St. Agnes* Eve where 



68 BIBLE IDEALS 

the effect produced is somewhat similar, though the faith is 
not so elaborately treated. The Ode to a Waterfowl does not 
come up with it in depth of feeling and perfection of faith. 

FORTY-SIXTH PSALM. 

This exalted lyric was occasioned by Sennacherib's in- 
vasion of Judea with one hundred and eighty-five thousand 
men. Isaiah's prayer-meeting with Hezekiah caused God to 
send destruction on their enemies. This great victory through 
divine interference produced several other psalms. Its inspir- 
ing theme is God our refuge. 

Exultingly the psalm begins: 

"God is our refuge and strength, 
A very present help in trouble; 

Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, 
And though the mountains be moved in the heart of the sea, 
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled. 
Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, 
The Lord of Hosts is with us. 
The God of Jacob is our refuge." 

This exalted strain is kept up throughout the poem. The 
refrain at the conclusion of each stanza, acts as a pile driver 
to fasten securely the content. 

The nations are represented as raging around Judah, 
but when God speaks, "the earth melts." 

The river of God's influence makes glad the city of God, 
and he is made the immovable fortification for the city. He 
is represented as making wars to cease throughout the world 
and as exalting himself among the nations. The inspiring 
exhortation is: 

"Be still, and know that I am God." 

Such a feeling of security is difficult to find. 
We may compare this psalm with Deborah's Ode, Song 
of Moses and Miriam, Gideon's Band, Feeding of the 



BIBLE IDE ALS 69 



Five Thousand, Manna in the Wilderness. In each case the 
sufficiency of God is plainly manifest. He also shows him- * 
self to be our refuge, our providence , in time of greatest 
need. Secular poems do not attempt to idealize on the 
miraculous scale, but only on the natural plain, hence it is 
difficult to find comparisons in secular poetry. 

FIFTY-FIRST PSALM. 

The theme of this psalm is true repentance. We see a 
penitent praying to God to have mercy upon him. His own 
language most forcibly sets forth his condition. "I acknowl- 
edge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.'* 

"Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. 
And done that which is evil in thy sight." 

"A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not 
despise." 

^'Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
Make me to have joy and gladness." 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; 
And renew a right spirit within me. 
Cast me not away from thy presence." 

"Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. 
And uphold me with thy free spirit." 

This poor penitent is broken in spirit, confesses his sins, 
pleads for forgiveness and purity of heart, and longs for 
the joy of salvation and freedom of spirit. This is certainly 
typical. 

We may compare it with the Vision of Sir Launfal, The 
Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Winter's Tale, and the 
Prodigal Son. How differently the same idea is imaged in 
each; but the spirit is the same. The difference in the im- 
agery does not change the abiding nature of the idea of re- 
pentance. 



70 BIBLE IDE ALS 



ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVENTH PSALM 

The one idea in this poem is lamentation, a sighing for 
other days and a wailing over their misdeeds. 

This elegy takes hold of the soul as much as Home, Sweet 
Home. We see homesick exiles sighing for their Jerusalem 
home, the old home church, and better days. Mournfully 
the psalm begins: 

"By the rivers of Babylon, 
There we sat down, yea, we wept. 
When we remembered Zion. 
Upon the willows in the midst 
We hanged our harps." 

Then the poor unfortunates are asked to sing some of 
the songs of their Zion, but the reply comes quickly: 

"How shall we sing the Lord's song 
In a strange land?" 

Thinking of their ingratitude to the old Jerusalem church, 
they utter undying words: 

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, 
Let my right hand forget her cunning. 
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. 
If I remember thee not; 
If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." 

The concluding stanza in a way spoils the beauty of the 
elegy by pronouncing such vengeance on the little ones of 
their captors; but when we remember that to the Jew the 
destruction of sin could only be brought about by killing 
the sinner, we can see why the harsh statements were made. 
The Jew is unable to abstract the sin from the sinner. 

We may compare this poem with Lamentations, and also 
many of the strains in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; but 
none of these is more famous. 

In contrast with this wail, is Paul founding a church 



BIBLE IDEALS 71 

in a foreign land while he was a prisoner at Rome. He 
had no time to lament^ but used all of his great energy in 
building up the Master's Kingdom. 

ECCLESIASTES 

In the series of essays constituting this book we have a 
fine bit of idealization such as we find in many of Emerson's 
essays. The theme idealized is the emptiness of worldliness 
versus the glory of godliness. 

To begin with we see a king's son, brought up in a great 
court, brilliantly educated, becoming king of a vast empire 
extending from the Euphrates to Egypt. His Kingdom is 
rolling in wealth, and almost literally flows with milk and 
honey. The king builds a great temple to God, and is 
blessed beyond all men with wisdom. His fame reaches all 
civilized nations. It seems that he needs nothing more to 
make him supremely happy. 

But he says one day to himself, "I will taste of worldly 
pleasures and see what there is in them." This causes his 
downfall, for he leaves God out of the account a little like 
the famous rich man who pulled down his barns and built 
larger ones; so Solomon makes for himself every convenience 
that wealth and ingenuity can invent. Whatever his heart 
desires he secures. In polygamy he goes to the limit, 
having seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. 
For the gods of some of his heathen wives he builds finer 
temples than to Jehovah. He becomes largely independent 
and gormandizes. Streams of gold and wealth seem to flow 
into his coffers from every quarter, and he revels in luxury 
and abundance. 

Do these pleasure excursions of the king make him happy? 
From the way he wails one would think that his worldli- 
ness was a veritable Sahara desert. Says he, "There is not 
a just man upon the earth." It almost sounds like Vivien 
saying, "There is no being pure." Well has it been said, 
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." 



72 BIBLE IDEALS 

The worst wail made by the pleasure-filled king is, "Vanity 
of vanities, all is vanity." This is the wail of a soul who 
is drunk with the pleasures of worldliness. 

After seeing the utter emptiness of a life of worldliness, 
he sums up in a few words the whole of real life. "This 
is the end of the matter: Fear God, and keep his command- 
ments ; for this is the whole duty of man." This is a magnifi- 
cent climax reached by a process of extensive experimenting. 

Probably nowhere else can we find so high an idealiza- 
tion of the vanity of a worldly life. Childe Harold, where 
Byron ranges thru the earth, especially in its supposedly 
great places, and finds emptiness of life wherever he goes, 
is perhaps the best comparison. 

LYRIC IDYL— SOLOMON'S SONG 

The organizing idea of this exquisite poem is pure affec- 
tion. Probably in no other poetry is a higher type of 
affection portrayed. 

In interpreting this poem, at least five laws must be 
kept in mind. 1. Inattention to sequences of time. The 
drama observes sequence, but the Idyl may begin at the end 
as is the case in this poem, and move backward and even 
skip about. 2. Impersonal Chorus which keeps up the 
story where it is not acted. 3. Refrains thrown in paren- 
thetically which must be referred to the entire poem. 
4. Reminiscences dramatized. They are given in dialog form 
and do not constitute an integral part of the section in which 
they are found. An example is when the maiden tries to 
ascertain who her lover is, and is baffled. 5. Symbolism. 
All thru the poem comparisons are made with standards of 
excellence. This analytical comparison is never to be pic- 
tured, but one standard is to be judged by another and thus 
the effect heightened. We see an example in the Shulam- 
mite's nose being compared to the tower of Lebanon. 

The imagery begins with the marriage of Solomon to the 
Shulammite maiden. The love demonstrations are almost 



BIBLE IDEALS 73 

excessive. The groom lovingly lifts her over the threshold 
of his house, and repairs to the banquet chamber. At times 
they discourse on reminiscences of their courtship. The 
bride is called "A rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley/' 
while the groom is described as a "lily among thorns/' 

The story then seems to move backward to the courtship 
where we see the bride ecstatically recalling the happy cir- 
cumstance, 

"The voice of my beloved! behold he cometh. 
Leaping upon the mountains, 
Skipping upon the hills. 

My beloved is mine, and I am his: 

He feedeth his flocks among the lilies, 

Until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away." 

Next we see the happy betrothal. King Solomon, com- 
ing in state, compares his sweetheart to almost every beautiful 
thing in nature that can be imagined. Like Bryant in, 
Oh, Fairest of the Rural Maids, he sees all the beauties of 
lovely nature in his bride. No greater bit of symbolism can 
be found in any literature. One example may be given: 

"Thine ej'^es are as doves behind thy veil." 

"Thou hast ravished my heart 
M^ith one look of thine eyes." 

"Drink, yQ.s, drink abundantly of love !" 

The next Idyl reveals a very troubled dream of the bride 
in which she is much concerned about finding her lover. 
She seeks him, and is even arrested and mistreated. She 
seems distracted because he has gone away from her for a 
little time. 

The story now changes to an exalted and charming medi- 
tation of the king concerning his bride. 



74 BIBLE IDEALS 

"Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Terzah, 
Comely as Jerusalem, 
Terrible as an army with banners, 
Turn away thine eyes from me, ^ 

For they have overcome me." 

"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, 
Fair as the moon, pure as the sun. 
Terrible as an army with banners?" 

Here the king exhausts his wisdom in making comparisons 
in regard to his beautiful queen. 

The scene now changes to a longing of the bride to go 
back to her old home among the hills and view again the old 
haunts of their courting days. The king accedes to this, 
and they hie away to the mountains. 

The lovely song closes with a renewal of their love on 
the Lebanon mountains. Says the bride, 

**Se\ me as a seal upon thine heart, 
For love is as strong as death; 
Jealousy is cruel as the grave. 

Many waters cannot quench love. 
Neither can the floods drown it." 

The amatory relations of this poem are not excelled in 
idealization by Poe, Tennyson, Longfellow, or even Shake- 
speare. The author knows thoroughly the highest experiences 
of the human soul and adequately portrays them. 

The poem typifies the marriage of Christ and the church. 
If this is given as a type of the love relations between 
Jesus and a Christian, how many measure up? Is Jesus the 
dearest name in the world? Is he as real as any living loved 
one, and more precious than even wife or sweetheart? Can 
we say and really appreciate it, 

"Jesus, lover of my soul. 
Let me to thy bosom fly." 



BIBLE IDE ALS 75 



THE GREAT ARRAIGNMENT 
Isaiah 1. 

Here we see corruption of the church idealized and ar- 
raigned as fearlessly as Jesus' arraignment of the Pharisees. 

To begin with, the ox and the ass possess more wisdom 
than God's people. These sinful people are laden with 
iniquity, they have forsaken the Lord, and despised the 
Holy One of Israel. "The whole head is sick, and the whole 
heart." This means that the king and his priests are woe- 
fully bad. No soundness is to be found from head to foot; 
but wounds, bruises, and festering sores. The country is 
desolate, cities are destroyed by fire. Israel is become a 
Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Why do you perform your externals before me, as sacri- 
ficing rams, bullocks and he-goats? I am sick of such, for 
your heart is not right toward me, saith the Lord. Quit 
bringing these oblations before me, and offering incense. I 
hate this external manipulation, for it is a soulless perform- 
ance, mere formalism, churchianity. Clean up, put away 
your sins, cease to do evil, learn to do well, treat the oppressed 
and widows right. Become obedient, and your "sins tho they 
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be 
red like crimson, they shall be as wool." 

The faithful city has become a harlot. She that was 
full of judgment and righteousness is now become a nest of 
murderers. Your companions are thieves; every one follows 
after graft; they judge not the fatherless, neither does the 
cause of the widow come before them. Therefore I will 
purge and destroy all the evil ones and restore righteousness. 

This idealization of corruption is only equaled in the 
famous doom songs of the Bible. No greater arraignments 
of sin can be found in history, oratory, or secular literature, 
than in the Bible, The failure to mix religion with business 
and the secular affairs of life has ever brought the church 
to nought. It deserves the condemnation given it, for if 
religion fails to find issue in conduct, it ceases to be. 



76 BIBLE IDEALS 

PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD 

Isaiah 5:1-7. 

This bit of symbolic prophecy has for its organizing idea 
ingratitude, a return all out of keeping with what is given. 
Says the prophet: 

"My well-beloved had a vineyard 
In a very fruitful hill ; 
And he made a trench about it. 
And gathered out the stones thereof, 
And planted it with the choicest vine. 
And built a tower in the midst of it, 
And also hewed out a winepress therein ; 
And he looked that it should bring forth grapes." 

We are told that it brought forth wild grapes. The 
owner declares that he has left nothing undone to make it 
bear good fruit. 

Having done his best he tires, takes away the hedge 
and fence around the vineyard, and permits it to be eaten 
up and trodden down. He refuses to hoe or prune it, and 
lets it grow up in briers and thorns. He even commands 
the rains to fall no more upon it. 

This parable text is a symbol of the house of Israel with 
the man of Judah as the pleasant plant. The vineyard is 
given every possible attention by the Lord and his prophets, 
but it brings forth no fruits of reverence, respect, mercy, love, 
faith or obedience, but instead oppression, wild grapes. 

This is one of the sad bits of idealization in the Bible. 
God first makes man in his own image, puts him in the 
Garden of Eden, but he is not satisfied. Later he is put 
into a "fruitful hill," a "land flowing with milk and honey." 
He is given judges, kings, and prophets, and is ministered to 
in every way that is possible by a good Father, and yet 
he brings forth wild grapes, and causes the good God to 
annihilate him as a nation and even as a church. 

We see a type of ingratitude here that calls up the un- 



BIBLE IDEALS 77 

grateful monsters, Goneril, Regan, and Edmund in King 
Lear. The two daughters had everything for which to be 
thankful, having each been given half of the kingdom, yet 
they refused to keep their gray-haired father, turned him 
out in the storm, caused him to go crazy, and finally were 
the means of putting him and their own angel sister, Cordelia, 
to death. Edmund secured everything his father Gloster 
had, title and all, then in turn he put his father's eyes out, 
and would have killed him if Edgar, his brother, had not 
interfered. 

VISION TWO OF THE ISAIAHAN RHAPSODY 

Isaiah 49. 

The chief idea in this vision is the ministry to the church. 
This may be considered as pertaining to preachers or lay- 
men. Rarely do we see a higher idealization of ministry or 
service. 

Near the first there is a magnificent outburst of joy, a 
beautiful lyric: 

"Sing, O heavens. 
And be joyful O earth ; 

And break forth into singing, O mountains, 
For the Lord hath comforted his people. 
And will have compassion upon his afflicted." 

This clearly indicates that our ministry to others should 
be joyous and helpful service. But even after this beautiful 
exhibition of heart and helpfulness we hear the church com- 
plaining: 

"Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath for- 
gotten me." 

In reply to this complaint we see the deepest love of 
Jehovah for his people. 

"Can a mother forget her nursing child? Yea, others may 
forget, yet will not I. Behold, I have graven thee upon the 
palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.** 



78 BIBLE IDEALS 

No one could mistake the great depths of devotion to his 
children made by Jehovah in these three pictures. 

To find a parallel for such ministry we must go to the 
New Testament and see Jesus as a minister. He acts out 
his tender expressions of love. "I will be with you in six 
troubles, and in the seventh I will not forsake thee." "Lo, 
I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.** Paul 
in his earnest, loving, helpful ministry at Ephesus, where 
he ceased not for three years to warn people day and night 
with tears, is another excellent parallel. The parsons set forth 
in Canterbury Tales and also in the Deserted Village are 
ideals of true service. 

ZION, THE BRIDE OF JEHOVAH 

Isaiah 54. 

In the fifth vision of the Rhapsody of Zion Redeemed, the 
church is exalted as (1) Jehovah's Bride, (2) The City 
of Beauty and Peace, (3) The Witness to the Nations. 
Rarely has the church been so highly idealized. 

Deepest devotion is the theme idealized in Zion the Bride 
of Jehovah. The bride has been in straits and has not 
prospered because of dereliction in duty, yet Jehovah says, 

"Sing, O barren, 

Thou that didst not bear. 

Break forth into singing and cry aloud. 

That thou didst not travail with child! 

Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed. 
Neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame ; 
For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth. 
And the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no 
more. 

For thy maker is thine husband; 

The Lord of Hosts is his name; 

And the Holy One of Israel is thy redeemer. 

The God of the whole earth shall he be called.** 



BIBLE IDE ALS 79 



Now as tenderly as any lover ever spoke to a sweetheart, 
so Jehovah speaks to his bride, promising with as great cer- 
tainty as the rainbow sign that he will nevermore be wroth 
with her nor rebuke her. 

'Tor a small moment have I forsaken thee; 
But with great mercies will I gather thee; 
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; 
But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee." 

"For the mountains shall depart. 
And the hills be removed. 
But my kindness shall not depart from thee. 
Neither shall my covenant of peace be removed.** 

The language of devotion in the last stanza seems almost 
hyperbolical, but we must remember that God is an intense 
being, and means to carry conviction with his words. 

The devotion idealized in this beautiful poem calls up 
the remarkable passage: "When my father and my mother 
forsake me the Lord will take me up." Also Jesus' many 
tender words of regard and genuine love for the church rush 
to the mind. Dearer to him is the church than is his life; he 
has proved this fact. Then his language so often shows it. 
We are further reminded of Revelation, where Jesus is the 
groom and the church is the bride. Surely God and Christ 
have done their best to get man to understand how dear the 
church is to them. The apperceptive bases used in their 
figures have been those which appeal most strongly to man's 
nature. 

In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner we see a devotion to 
the church somewhat akin to the above. Says the converted 
Mariner, 

"Oh, sweeter than the marriage feast, 
'Tis sweeter far to me. 
To walk together to the kirk 
With a goodly company." 



80 BIBLE IDEALS 

The psalmist says, "I was glad when they said, let 
us go into the house of the Lord." The hymn, "There's a 
wideness in God's mercy," reveals a similar devotion. In 
Psalm 138 the devotion to the church is intense. The exiles 
in Babylon exclaim: 

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, 
Let my right hand forget her cunning. 
If I do not remember thee, 
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; 
If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.'* 

ZION THE CITY OF BEAUTY AND PEACE 

Isaiah 54. 

The theme is in the title. This is God's idea of what 
the church ought to be, and what it must become. I;f the 
Lord's prayer in John 17 were to be answered, the church 
would indeed become the city of beauty and peace. 

The poem begins with the church storm- tossed in exile: 

"O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted. 
Behold, I will set thy stones in fair colors. 
And lay thy foundations with sapphires. 

And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies. 

And thy gates of carbuncles. 

And all thy border of pleasant stones." 

God employs terms which are intended to give us the 
highest appreciation of the church. 

"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; 
And great shall be the peace of thy children: 
In righteousness shalt thou be established. 

Thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear. 
And from terror, for it shall not come near thee; 
Behold, they may stir up strife, but not by me; 
Whosoever shall stir up strife against thee shall fall because 
of thee. 



BIBLE IDEALS 81 



No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, 
And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou 
shalt condemn. ^ ■. ,M. 

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, 
And their righteousness which is of me, saith the Lord.'* 

The church in this poem is conceived as a palace of 
precious stones. Its transcendant beauty and loveliness make 
it an object of almost heavenly contemplation. Then we 
see this palace of jewels given a guarantee of permanent 
peace. Such an idealization of the church is hard to find. 
Psalm 45 gives us a portrayal of the church external and 
internal, but the idealization is much lower as one can plainly 
see. 

DOOM OF BABYLON 
Isaiah 13:14.-23, Jermiah 50-51. 

Retribution seems to be the organizing idea of this doom 
song. Babylon has hammered all nations, and now is ham- 
mered down herself. 

First we see great Babylon in her glory and grandeur. 
She is the battle axe of God, the destroying mountain, the 
hammer of all the earth, the glory of kingdoms exalting her- 
self above the stars of God, equal even to the Most High, 
a proud boaster indeed. She is called the beauty of the 
Chaldean Pride, the golden city, the day star, the sun of 
the morning. From a world point of view, could greater ex- 
altation come to any kingdom.'* 

Now watch her seeming heaven transform itself into a 
veritable hell. A voice of a multitude is heard among the 
mountains. The besom of destruction is sweeping down from 
the north. Fearful wrath and overpowering destruction are 
in the way. There is no light; the sun, the moon, the stars 
are darkened. Heaven and earth are trembling. Yoimg 
men are dashed to pieces ; children are not spared ; women are 
ravished; men pierced thru with a sword, and babies dashed 



82 BIBLE I D E A LS 



to pieces. Utter destruction is on the great city. As it 
was with Sodom and Gomorrah, so here. Hell is moved to 
meet Babylon at her coming. The Shades of mighty kings 
rise up to ask if the great Hammer of all the earth is as 
weak as they. 

The site of Babylon is left an utter ruin, inhabited by 
jackals, wolves, owls, and wild beasts. A curse is pronounced 
on the site that it should ever remain a desolation. 

The idealization here is very high. In no other doom 
song of the Bible do we find such terror and awful wholesale 
destruction. Nor do we find Jesus' doom of the cities around 
Lake Galilee equal to it. It is a vivid verification of the 
fact that "the way of the transgressor is hard." 

THE SHEPHERDS OF ISRAEL VERSUS THE 
DIVINE SHEPHERD 

Ezekiel 34. 

In this scripture the prophet vividly sets forth the con- 
trast between hirelings and real pastors. 

Ezekiel begins by pronouncing a woe upon the hirelings. 
"Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. 
Should not the shepherds feed the sheep .^" These hirelings 
live fat, wear fine clothes, neglect the sick, comfort not the 
broken-hearted, do not go out after the lost, and rule with an 
iron hand. Having no real shepherd the sheep are scattered, 
devoured by the beasts of the field, and roam over all the 
earth. The Lord states plainly, "I am against the shepherds; 
and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them 
to cease feeding my sheep." The Lord declares that he 
will seek his people throughout the earth and will bring them 
into green pastures and by delightful water courses. He 
says, "I myself will feed my sheep and cause them to lie 
down. There shall be showers of blessing and they shall 
know that I am the Lord." 

The carelessness and heartlessness of the hirelings that 
are idealized here, find a parallel in the Rhapsody of Zion 



BIBLE I D E A LS 83 



Redeemed, Vision 6, where the prophet arraigns the "sleepy, 
careless, snoring, dumb dogs," the priests of his people. 
John 10 is another parallel where the lazy shepherds permit 
the wolves to break into the fold. In both cases we see 
Jehovah and Jesus in mighty contrast as the tender, loving, 
careful shepherds of their people, each having a passionate 
fondness for his children. 

The pastor has beein idealized by many secular poets. 
Among them are Chaucer in Canterbury Tales, painting an 
almost faultless priest, and Goldsmith doing the same in the 
Deserted Village. 

VALLEY OF DRY BONES. 

Ezekiel 37. 

This bit of idealization is remarkable, for It brings life 
out of death. We are raised from a repulsive scene of dead 
men's bones to an inspiring spectacle of activity. From one 
point of view we see preaching idealized; from another, the 
power of God exalted. 

The house of Israel, Zion, has become a cemetery and 
worse, as many another church has become since. It is a 
valley of dry bones, very dry too. Bones, bones, bones, 
everywhere, no life, but death, death, a horrible sight! No 
one would ever think that there could be any hope here, 
but the Source of all Power tells Ezekiel to prophesy, to 
preach. "O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord." Im- 
mediately there is heard a clicking all over the valley as the 
bones begin to come together. As the life-giving preacher 
continues, the revival gets under greater and greater head- 
way until finally we are told that even the earth is shaken, 
and the bones take on flesh and skin, life is breathed into 
them and they become a great army, showing that even yet 
Israel can come out of her grave of dead hopes, and have 
a great resurrection into vigorous life. 

This bit of vision prophecy seizes the lowest possible and 
raises us out into the clear atmosphere of hope and life. The 



84 BIBLE IDEALS 

only adequate parallel for this scene is where God alternates 
with the Celestial Chorus in Zion Redeemed in attempting to 
wake up Zion. For some time even God fails in his calls. 
Then the cry is taken up by the Celestial Chorus telling 
Zion that "the cup of her staggering is taken away." God 
comes on the scene again and calls and calls_, reminding them 
once more of their former glories and of what he intends 
doing for them. At this the church awakens and begins 
singing : 

**How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him, 
That bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace." 

In secular literature one is reminded of the call of Tenny- 
son and Browning to the nineteenth century to come out of 
the grave of materialism into the reviving atmosphere of 
faith and hope. The clarion calls of these two giant preach- 
ers brought about a real resurrection of the dead to a lively 
faith. 

STORY OF THE FIERY FURNACE. 

The theme of this well known story is conviction. This 
is a faith that sticks, a faith that keeps a man fixed. 

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has constructed a great 
image of gold on the plain of Dura. It is sixty cubits high 
and six cubits wide. A decree goes forth that at the sound 
of the musical instruments every one must fall down and 
worship the image. But the three Jewish officers refuse to 
fall down. This act of disobedience is reported to the king. 
He, in a rage, orders the men brought before him, and asks 
them how they dare to defy his authority. He tells them he 
will give them another opportunity and that the furnace will 
be heated seven times hotter than usual. "Now," says Neb- 
uchadnezzar, "who is that god that shall deliver you out of 
my hands .^" This is a real defiance to God Almighty. Shad- 
rach, Meshach, and Abednego calmly reply, "Be it known 
unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor 



BIBLE IDEALS 85 

worship the golden image which thou hast set up." Our 
God may deliver us from the flames, and again he may not; 
but our minds are fixed on God. Their convictions as to the 
right are stronger than such a frightful death. 

Then the King becomes furious and orders mighty men to 
bind them and hurl them into the furnace. The urgency is 
so great that the flames leap out and consume the mighty 
men, but the fire only burns the bonds of the three Jews. 
The King is beside himself when he sees four men walking 
around in the flames unharmed. Calling them out he blesses 
their God, and issues a decree that it will be death to any 
one who utters a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, 
and Abednego. He also promotes the three men. 

The idealization here is about as high as it ever gets. It 
compares with that of Godlike Daniel when the hungry lions 
were ready to devour him; with the sublime faith of Stephen 
when falsely arraigned; with Abraham's trial on Mount Zion; 
with Luther, Latimer, and Ridley when tested to the utter- 
most; yet with even the Christ in Gethsemane and on Cal- 
vary. In all these cases greatest faith and profoundest con- 
victions are needed. The incident of the apostles fleeing in 
time of danger stands out in painful contrast. 

We give one stanza of a great hymn with which this story 
could be further compared: 

"Dare to be a Daniel, 
Dare to stand alone ; 
Dare to have a purpose true, 
Dare to make it known." 

DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 
Daniel 6. 

In this prophetic incident several things are highly ideal- 
ized: envy on the part of the satraps, faith and 'prayer on 
the part of Daniel. The faith shown by Daniel is nothing 
short of the sublime. 

Daniel from the first of his captivity has stood for God. 



86 BIBLE IDEALS 

He refuses to eat the king's meat and drink his wine, and 
God honors him with preferment for it. 

In the present case the one hundred and twenty satraps 
are simply envious of Daniel. This prophet shows a more 
excellent spirit than any of them, and Darius is now think- 
ing of putting him over the entire Kingdom. This they can- 
not stand, therefore they determine to overthrow him. They 
look first for treason in him but find none. He is so faith- 
ful to every duty that they decide that the only way to 
trap him is by a scheme against his religious habits. Going 
to Darius these satraps, after flattering him, ask him to make 
the decree that any one who shall ask a petition of any other 
being than the king for thirty days shall be cast into the 
den of lions. The decree is made and signed. Grand old 
Daniel, so regular in prayer, loves his Lord better than he 
does his life; so three times a day in plain view before the 
open window on his knees, he talks to his Lord. The rep- 
robates are on the watch and report to the king. In the 
meantime the lions have been starved for several days to make 
them ravenous. 

When Darius hears that his favorite has been caught, he 
is exceedingly sorry and casts about to save Daniel if pos- 
sible; but these villains, Shylock-like, keep pressing on him 
the inexorability of the laws of the Medes and Persians. At 
sundown the old king yields, Daniel is cast into the den of 
lions, and Darius' seal is used to close the entrance. The 
king goes to his palace, fasts and tosses all night. Sleep is 
a stranger. Early in the morning he is up on the hillside 
lamentably calling his favorite: "O Daniel, servant of the 
living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able 
to deliver thee from the lions?" A voice comes from within: 
"O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel and hath 
shut the lions' mouths, and they have not hurt me: forasmuch 
as before him innocency was found in me; and also before 
thee, O King, have I done no hurt." Then we are told that 
the king was exceeding glad and commanded that Daniel 



BIBLE IDEALS 87 

should be taken out and his accusers thrown in. And the 
schemers did not reach the bottom of the cave until the 
starving, infuriated beasts had broken their bones and liter- 
ally torn them to pieces. Such is the awful penalty for 
envy, treachery, double-dealing. 

The idealization of envy, treachery, prayer, and faith is 
remarkable in this story. These little envious satraps could 
not brook a foreign superior. Therefore a treacherous scheme 
is planned which whirls them and not him into fearful de- 
struction. This is usually the end of such sins, as we see in 
Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Richard III, Marmion, Bene- 
dict Arnold, Aaron Burr, and Judas Iscariot. 

The faith exercised by Daniel is Godlike. Rather than 
be denied communion with his dear God, he deliberately 
chooses to die. Such love for prayer is hardly paralleled in 
the world. The faith shown is of the Abrahamic type. Jo- 
seph, Joshua, Gideon, Deborah, and the disciples after Pente- 
cost, manifested a similar faith. In secular literature we 
catch glimpses of such faith in Emerson and Browning. They 
never wavered but marched breast forward. 



NEW TESTAMENT 



POETRY OF THE GOSPELS. 

Most people are enraptured with secular poetry. They 
read it extensively^ feast on its beauties, and become greater 
by its ideals. But they never dream that even brighter j ewels 
and more inspiring ideals are to be found in the Bible. If 
people could only realize that the Bible has the best poetry 
in the world, the finest oratory, the most magnificent art gal- 
leries of portraits, the most philosophical of history, the best 
letters, the most entrancing stories, they would leave it for 
no other book. What other book finds man at his deepest, 
at his best.'' What other book touches man so extensively or 
so intensively? Nineteen centuries of world-intellect and 
world-interest have pronounced it the Book of books. This 
contention has been corroborated by ages of science, ages of 
literature, and ages of philosophy. Then, it is bathed in a 
beauty and a sublimity too, not possessed even by Dante's 
great strains, or Shakespeare's magnificent dramas. We cite 
as proof that greatest tragedy of the ages, the sublime life 
and death of Jesus Christ, as recorded especially in the 
Gospels. Here we have the actual Christ who is at the 
same time the idea,l of all ideals — so far above any other 
mortal that there is no comparison. He lives his inspiring 
life on the earth, his words and deeds proclaiming to man, 
a God ! a God ! Yet he was man also. Next we see him 
in Gethsemane concerned even for his enemies to such an 
extent that it is impossible for man to get an adequate con- 

88 



BIBLE IDEALS 89 

ception of his passion. On Calvary he gives the world such 
an exhibition of love and self-sacrifice as to capture its very 
heart. This love first manifested on Calvary has since that 
time taken continents for righteousness. When we measure 
this great tragedy in the light of the world results which it 
has produced, we must say that any literary creation even of 
Shakespeare or Dante is to Jesus Christ as a candle is to the 
sun in the heavens. Jesus is not a literary creation, but an 
actuality, God's own creation. 

As a further proof of our contention, we may cite the 
sublime rhapsody of Zion Redeemed in the last twenty-seven 
chapters of Isaiah, where God establishes the fact that he 
will one day realize himself in the earth. Again, in our own 
estimation some of the wonderful doom songs of the Bible 
excel the grandeur even of any of Shakespeare's poems. If one 
will adequately picture to himself the awful doom of Babylon 
as set forth by Isaiah and Jeremiah, he will be impressed as 
he is by no secular poem. 

The real purpose of this chapter is to give a brief intro- 
duction to the poetic splendors of that part of the Bible which 
is not even considered poetical, i. e.y the Gospels. Many con- 
cede there are hundreds of beautiful and inspiring lyrics and 
scores of magnificent odes in the Old Testament. They grant, 
too, that we may find elegies, idyls, doom songs, rhapsodies, 
orations, and the dramatic in abundance in the old part of the 
Bible; but they at least seem to deny that the New Testa- 
ment has any of these bright jewels. They may think it 
strange to speak of the poetry of the Gospels, for they 
consider them but "the authoritative statements of the acts 
and words of Jesus Christ," and therefore prose, mere biog- 
raphy. We may grant that the Gospels in the main are 
prose in form, but we afiirm that they are poetic in content. 
This we shall attempt to show by examining the nature of 
poetry. 

I. Nature of Poetry. 

1. Poetry Deals with the Essential and Abiding in Hu- 



90 BIBLE IDEALS 

man Life. — Nothing short of that which is of universal in- 
terest can find a place in a poem. The great poetic themes 
of immortality, love, trust in Providence, hope, regret, living 
under the inspiration of the highest, and many others of world 
interest which have caused giant struggles in the hearts of 
such men as Tennyson, Longfellow, Lowell, Wordsworth, 
Shakespeare, Bryant, Whittier, and Browning, are treated in 
the Gospels with the delicate touch of a true poet. All of 
these themes except regret find their best setting forth, their 
highest idealization in the real life of Jesus. We shall also 
see some of them typified in other poems of the Gospels. As 
to regret, it and even remorse find a setting in Judas Iscariot 
which more than parallels The Raven. In this most noted 
of Poe's poems idealization is not so extensive as it is with 
Judas Iscariot. Poe is in a tremendous struggle over **a 
rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore." 
Just what caused his struggle is shrouded in the mists, but 
he seems to have done something that has pronounced the 
doom upon him, the doom of never having removed from 
out his heart the beak of the raven, the symbol of remorse. 
And still further, he is "nevermore" to see in this world 
or the next this "rare and radiant maiden;" but he does not 
commit suicide. In Judas we see a preacher chosen by Christ 
himself, a healer of diseases, a proclaimer of the unsearch- 
able riches of Jesus Christ, a trusted and, no doubt, at 
first efficient treasurer of the church. We watch greed and 
ambition gnawing at his heart until he falls so low as to 
extinguish the Light of the world. Nothing is too good to 
stand in the way of his advancement. Money and worldly 
advancement, he will have. But when he sees the enormity 
of his crime, regret and remorse so seize upon him as to throw 
him at once into the vortex of self-destruction. When we 
swing into this picture the world consequences of the deed, 
what secular poem can parallel it? 

2. Poetry Searches the Human Heart as Does Nothing 
Else, — Do you doubt that the Gospels do this.^ They sweep 



BIBLE IDEALS 91 

the whole gamut of the human emotions. They sink the soul 
to the depths even of the unpardonable sin and lift it to the 
heights of universal charity and heavenly beauty. This latter 
idea is clearly seen in the beautiful life of Christ. The Gos- 
pels also touch man in all points necessary to complete self- 
realization. The ideal pointed out is all-sufficient, it being 
the ideal of ideals — the only complete exemplification of the 
three great universal worths, truth, beauty, and virtue. What- 
ever is true, whatever is beautiful, whatever is good we find 
touched upon in this matchless life — Jesus Christ. 

3. Poetry Sets Forth the Ideal. — It reveals the better 
things of life, the better self, the possibilities within us. 
Christ lived such an ideal life. In fact, his life was in itself 
a poem, and it is greater to be a poem than to write one. 
In it we find the truest types of friendship, universal charity, 
pure love, aspiration, and other poetical themes. 

4. Poetry Makes You Feel the Truth, — ^We read an 
ethical treatment of love and are unmoved, but we read Miles 
Standish and we fall in love. We read The Merchant of 
Venice and are swept on by an irresistible current; yet the 
Gospels furnish us the best poem on love and are sweeping 
the world into its vortex. Really read the Gospels, especially 
John's, and you will fall in love with the Christ. You are 
drawn irresistibly to him, such is the marvelous power of 
poetry. Read Sir Launfal and you feel your soul expand- 
ing toward others ; but read the Gospels and really imbibe 
their spirit and you feel a love in your soul for all mankind. 
Our own hearts tend to sweep out into the dimensions of the 
Christ-heart. 

We read a poem on kindness and really feel kind for 
a time; but the inimitable kindness of Jesus to his disciples, 
and even to the publicans, draws us strongly to him. Kind- 
ness takes on a heavenly lustre in his actions. 

5. Poetry is the Language of the Human Heart Trying 
to Express the Sublime and Beautiful Found in It. — It is the 
language of aspiration to the true and great, and reveals a 



92 BIBLE IDE ALS 

kind of divine radiance. It is the mortal breathing out im- 
mortality. It is the soul telling of world joys, world sorrows. 
It consists of "thoughts that breathe and words that burn." 
It is the true language of emotion and imagination. 

All these qualities are clearly exemplified in the Gospels, 
yet I hear some one saying that they do not have the music 
and metre which we find in other poetry. No, I grant it, but 
neither has Shakespeare. If he had to meet such a test he too 
would be ruled out. We find rhythm though, and it is certain 
that sound is not greater than sense. This, Shakespeare and 
the Bible writers well knew. While the metre is absent, you 
do find universal interests set forth in such a charming man- 
ner as ever to be attractive. You find a searching of the 
human heart paralleled nowhere else in literature. You find 
the ideal so presented as to make you very sensitive to it. 
You find the beautiful and sublime clothed in a dress equal 
in splendor to themselves. 

Why is most of the Bible written in poetry.^ Because 
it is the natural language for the sublime and beautiful 
in life. The theme of eternal life is the very acme of 
sublimity and beauty. Only song, poetry, eloquence, and 
story could adequately set forth the divine light of religion. 
What a hold these means have on man! So long as people 
delight in hymns of praise, and the gemmed thoughts of the 
old Book, our civilization will have high ideals. Nothing so 
affects people when they stop long enough in their mad rush 
to listen to these numbers. Poetry, that divinest of arts, 
is indeed the greatest helpmeet of religion; for it is the most 
natural avenue for truth which is the vital element of Chris- 
tianity. It is certainly true that religion without poetry and 
song could never have transformed humanity. 

To one who delights to think with the gods, as it were, 
who finds joy in the third heaven of the imagination, who falls 
down in reverence before the great truth, beauty and virtue 
portrayed in the Bible, the divine Book is a golden offering 
of heaven. Nothing short of poetry seems adequate to set 



BIBLE IDEALS 93 

forth such themes as immortality, salvation, love, mercy, ten- 
derness, kindness, courage, and fortitude. These and many 
others of great significance to the human heart are set forth 
in such a charming way as to captivate the beauty-loving soul. 
Have you ever stopped to think of it.'' Materialism can 
have no poetry, for it has no soul. No genius can believe 
it, let alone beautify it in song and verse. Its only music is 
the jingle of money and the rattle of machinery. It is, as 
one has well said, "the evolution of mind into man and dirt 
into deity." It is as incapable of poetic treatment as it is of 
scientific proof. 

II. Gospels Viewed — 

1. In Their Entirety as a Great Tragedy, 

2. As Made Up of Many Poems, 

The Gospels as a whole are a great tragedy, greater than 
Edipus Tyrannus, greater than Hamlet or any other litera- 
ture, for we are plunged lower and raised higher than in any 
other tragedy. They dramatically set forth the ideal life of 
Jesus. His life was in reality a poem, for his thoughts, his 
words, and his deeds were all ideal. In the Gospels we see 
him struggling as to the real nature of his Messiahship, and 
also as to the way of carrying it out, for he was man. In 
this struggle the two most tragic scenes are the Temptation 
in the Wilderness and Dark Gethsemane. So great is Christ's 
struggle in the first, he forgets for forty days to feed himself. 
Although tempted in the three most vulnerable points known 
to man, he triumphs over all and decides once for all as to 
the spiritual nature of his Messiahship. In Gethsemane we 
see a struggle as to how the Messiahship shall further be 
carried out. He sweats, as it were, great drops of blood. 
The struggle is unparalleled in history. From the sloughs of 
temptation and uncertainty he is lifted to complete divine 
insight as to the power, wisdom, and purpose of God. Of 
course, the ideal to him is always God, his Father. Christ 
seeks to do only the will of the Father and in so doing there 



94 BIBLE I D E A LS 

is given us a series of poetic scenes unparalleled in litera- 
ture. The series ends with the darkest scene earth ever 
witnessed or pen ever painted^ darker from one standpoint 
than the end of Macbeth^ Hamlet, Othello, or King Lear. 
We certainly see the awful cost of sin in a clearer light than 
we do in any secular drama. The natural and supernatural 
in this and the Trial Scene far excel any witch-or-demon-en- 
livened scene of Shakespeare. In fact, there is scarcely any 
comparison, for one is on the plane of man, while the 
other is on the plane of God. 

At last we see a God-man dying, the innocent for the 
guilty, the just for the unjust. Men there as a rule did 
not sympathize with him, but the earth shook as a strong 
man overcome with grief. Even the great sun refused to 
look upon the scene. In the midst of icy-cold hate, love 
cries out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do." Just at the very last we hear the victor cry out with 
gladsome, triumphant shout, "Father, into thy hands I com- 
mend my spirit," revealing the power to lay down his life. 

We search in vain to find such a poem elsewhere in litera- 
ture, one so brilliant in putting, of such eternal importance. 
It is not only of universal, but of everlasting value. No 
poem sinks us so deep or raises us so high as do the Gospels 
taken as a whole. In them we are plunged to the depths of 
the unpardonable sin and lifted to the heights of complete 
spiritual freedom. 

Let us now, in both secular literature and the Gospels, 
institute a comparison between poems having the same theme. 

In the Ode to a Waterfowl, we find the ideal of perfect 
trust in Providence. Here we see William Cullen Bryant, a 
lonely lawyer, going to a Connecticut town to wait for clients 
and starve ! He doubts Providence and pitches off into the 
"Slough of Despond," his mind being lined with black. He 
sees a duck flying exposed to the fowling pieces and stormy 
weather. Weary, yet it turns neither to right nor left, but 
keeps on towards its goal to be with its fellows. It is un- 



BIBLE IDEALS 95 

moved by "the cold thin atmosphere," night coming on, long 
weariness, the "solitary way/' "the desert and illimitable 
air," and the fowling pieces. In this bird trusting God by 
instinct, Bryant finds his ideal, which was ever afterwards 
a beacon light of inspiration to him. 

"He who from zone to zone. 

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight. 
In the long way that I must tread alone. 
Will lead my steps aright." 

This poem the world does not cease to admire, but we 
find a more brilliant putting of the same theme in the Shep- 
herd Scene of the Gospels, where both heaven and earth 
are called in to heighten the scene. The shepherds have 
been long waiting for the Messiah and doubting — Will he 
come? Will he come? Suddenly an angel appears over the 
Judean hills and a heavenly radiance above the brilliancy of 
the moon and stars shines around about them. Then a great 
radiance, a regular overflow meeting from heaven. They are 
singing the greatest of oratorios, "Glory to God in the high- 
est, peace on earth, good will toward men: unto you this 
day in Bethlehem is a Saviour born." From doubt the shep- 
herds, are raised up to the highest trust. They hasten im- 
mediately to Bethlehem to find Jesus, and after worshiping 
him they return, rejoicing and praising God. Even Shake- 
speare and the ancient Grecian poets with their witches 
and weird imagery are pale lights compared with the heavenly 
imagery found in the Gospels. 

Longfellow in his Excelsior has given us the ideal of 
living under the inspiration of the highest. We see a youth 
full of spirit, climbing a mountain. Around him is the pelt- 
ing storm and darkness, and above him the pitching 
avalanches. Not even the maiden's smile, nor the gleaming 
household fires, nor the call of the old man, warning him of 
the lowering tempests, can stay him. On he presses at duty's 



96 BIBLE IDEALS 

call, and morning's dawn finds him grasping in his death-cold 
hand that banner with the strange device, "Excelsior." 

"There in the twilight cold and gray, 
Lifeless, but beautiful he lay, 
And from the sky, serene and far, 
A voice fell like a falling star. 
Excelsior." 

"Beautiful," you say. Yes, but Jesus, struggling for 
three years up Mount Calvary and finally dying for principle 
amidst the jeerings of a hate-cursed people and the convul- 
sions of both earth and sun, is more beautiful. Better still, 
it is more grandly sublime. Language cannot paint the fury 
of the storm that raged around him, nor the allurements to 
draw him away from the path of duty. The devil alone 
offered him a thousand-fold more temptation than was placed 
in the youth's way. 

If it were necessary we might show a parallel for Excel- 
sior in the scene at the Feast of Purim, where Jesus on the 
Sabbath day heals the impotent man. A more vivid scene 
is his sermon on the Bread of Life in the Capernaum syna- 
gogue on the next day after feeding the five thousand. In 
both cases he is in danger of losing his life and in the latter 
case of losing his friends, yes, even his own disciples. "Many 
of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 
Then said Jesus unto the twelve. Will ye also go away?" — 
perhaps the most pathetic utterance in all literature. 

The world is enraptured with the ideal of universal charity 
set forth in The Vision of Sir Launfal. In the bright morn 
of life a gallant knight starts out to seek for the Holy Grail. 
Proud and haughty, he tosses the leper a piece of gold; but 
with such a heart he meets only failure. In the chill winter 
evening of life he realizes that the only road to greatness is 
the road to service. Driven, as it were, from his castle, his 
earldom taken away from him, the cold wintry winds all 
night long making a harp out of his gray locks, he is brought 



BIBLE IDEALS 97 

to complete dependence. Despite the warring of the ele- 
ments against him, his heart is filled with love for even the 
loathsome leper whom he now sees before him. 

"I behold in thee 
An image of Him who died on the tree." 

Sir Launfal breaks the ice and gives the leper drink and 
also divides the last crust with him. He at last finds that 
the object of his search_, the Holy Grail, is in his own heart. 
No more is his castle cold and closed to people around, but 
its gates stand wide open to every man in the whole "north 
coimtree." 

This vision so entranced Lowell while writing it that for 
forty-eight hours he took no food nor did he sleep. In com- 
parison, notice in the Gospels we have a continuous mani- 
festation of universal charity in the ministerial labors of 
Jesus. There are swept into this latter picture all his deeds 
of healing, kindness, love, and some of the most tragic scenes 
known in literature. We see him at the Pool of Bethesda 
healing an invalid who has a malady of thirty-eight years' 
standing. Finding a woman who has been for eighteen years 
bent over upon herself, he gives her sweet release in health 
and an upright position. Another poor woman who for twelve 
years has been diseased and has spent all of her money with 
the doctors, finds the thrill of life in her body by a mere 
touch of the hem of his garment. The blind, the deaf, and 
the dumb are given sight, hearing, and speech by his life- 
giving touch. Meeting a widow one day following the staff 
of her support to his grave Christ stops the procession and 
restores the son to his overjoyed mother. Jairus is thrown 
into ecstasies of delight by having his twelve-year-old daughter 
restored to him. And the joy of Martha and Mary knows 
no bounds when their brother is given back to them. We also 
see Jesus helping those even lower than the leper. On various 
occasions those who have fallen into the depths of social im- 
purity, than which there is nothing lower, are blessed with 



98 BIBLE IDEALS 

forgiveness and joy in their hearts. The great love of Christ 
goes out in tender sympathy to all^ regardless of their stand- 
ing. The thoughts and sympathies of Jesus are ever universal, 
and yet the examples of universal charity just given, pale 
very much when we compare them with that flow of universal 
love which produced Gethsemane, the Trial Scene, and Calvary. 
Can these images picturing the universal love of Jesus be 
paralleled in literature? What eternal consequences hang on 
some of them! 

The ideal of living by dying, as set forth in Thanatopsis, 
immortalized Bryant when he was but nineteen. The same 
theme, found in the life of Christ, is in a coloring much more 
significant to the world. He is continually laying down his 
very life for the good of those about him. Finally we see 
him actually giving his life for man — so great is his love for 
humanity. In so doing he received it back in the largeness 
and fullness that is filling the earth with heavenly joy and 
comfort. 

Love, the theme of most poets, is given a setting in 
John's Gospel which has caused the world to fall in love 
with Christ. This Gospel seems to have been written in 
heaven by the loving Christ, so unearth-like and so heavenly 
does it seem. 

Other pictures of love may be mentioned in connection 
with the life of Jesus. What is more beautiful in literature 
than the picture of love presented in the parable of the Lost 
Sheep, where the shepherd goes forth that stormy night 
among the jagged rocky mountains to find his lost sheep? 

"Out on the mountains he heard its cry. 
Sick and helpless and ready to die." 

Evangeline sought Gabriel, for she loved him and him 
only. He sought her for the same reason. In the poem of 
the Lost Sheep, Christ seeks any lost soul. His love is 
deeper, broader, and fuller, for it is universal and divine. 

Among the poems whose theme is love, can you find a 



BIBLE IDEALS 99 

parallel to The Prodigal Son? The degree of idealization 
here is wonderfuj. The boy goes as low as the lowest, even 
spending a part of his father's living with harlots. Out of 
money and friends, a castaway feeding swine, famishing and 
heartsick, he says, "I will arise and go to my father," will- 
ing now to become "as a hired servant." The father seeing 
him "afar off" runs to meet him and, throwing his arms about 
his neck, covers his face with kisses. The poor penitent boy 
tries to tell his father how bad he has been, but the father 
appears hardly to listen. At once he orders a ring to put 
on his finger, shoes on his feet, the best robe put on him, 
the fatted calf killed, and all to make merry over the return 
of the lost one. From the lowest of the low, he is raised to 
the highest of the high. A more thrilling picture of love is 
nowhere to be found. It mirrors the whole of the gospel 
of love. For more can be read into it than one can see in 
the beautiful stories of the repentance of Sir Launfal, 
Guinevere, The Ancient Mariner, or Leontes. 

Immortality, the theme on which Tennyson struggled so 
hard in his In Memoriam and Two Voices, Wordsworth in his 
Ode on Immortality, and Longfellow in his Psalm of Life, 
is everywhere taken for granted in the Gospels. We read these 
and are made to feel eternal. No other poem does this to such 
an extent. By almost unseen touches the soul mounts farther 
up the heights than it does in In Memoriam, or Psalm of 
Life, where the authors seem to have had almost a life-and- 
death struggle over the question. 

Is the world-renowned picture of friendship, as painted 
by that prince of poets, Shakespeare, in The Merchant of 
Venice, more beautiful than the one portrayed in the Gospels ? 
Christ in his friendship fills out the true definition of a 
friend — another yourself. Antonio was willing to die for his 
friend Bassanio, but Christ actually did die not only for his 
friends, but his enemies. 

Good people have loved that beautiful poem, Nauhaught 
the Deacon, ever since Whittier wrote it. The wife and 



100 BIBLE IDEALS 

children of the old Indian Deacon are sick and in need. He, 
doubting Providence, goes gloomily to his traps, but finding 
nothing in them, he returns heartsick to his home. In the 
underbrush he finds a pocketbook with ten shining pieces of 
gold in it. He dreamed last night of finding gold. He will 
keep it, for it will help him out of need. Religion has not 
paid much anyway. Such thoughts came to him, but sud- 
denly something said, "Nauhaught, be a man !" This decides 
the case. He goes up to the boat, gives over the pocketbook, 
receives one gold piece for his honesty and goes singing 
homeward. He is raised to the pinnacle of perfect trust. 
Says he: 

"My neighbors saw the skipper. 
But I saw the angel." 

In the Temptation of Christ we see him struggling as to 
the way of carrying out his Messiahship, for as we have said, 
he was a man. He is in agony and for forty days he forgets 
his body, so great is the strain. Think of it, a God-man 
suffering so! He is tempted in the three most vulnerable 
points known to the heart of man and yet here, as through- 
out the Gospels, we see him triumphing over every temptation. 
In the Gospel picture the future weal or woe of the nations 
of the earth comes in, making it transcendently more 
picturesque than Whittier's ideal. 

We mention but one more of these poetic scenes of the 
Gospels, and that is the Transfiguration. Here we have 
heaven called in again to heighten the scene. One purpose 
of Jesus is to lift the disciples from their earthly bondage 
as to the nature of his Messiahship to its true spiritual nature. 
Christ's face, as he is praying, shines like the sun in the 
heavens and his garments are as white as light. Two heavenly 
messengers come and talk with him about his near supreme 
sacrifice. Peter is beside himself and talks strangely. A 
bright cloud overshadows them and God Almighty himself is 
heard saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 



BIBLE IDEALS 101 

pleased; hear ye him." But not even this, perhaps the most 
spectacular scene in the Bible, relieves the disciples of their 
bondage. A Pentecost is necessary for this. 

Viewed from one standpoint, consecration is a theme of 
this poem. Jesus could go to heaven as Elijah went, but he 
chooses to go the Gethsemane road, for he is entirely conse- 
crated to the divine will. It is not so with the disciples, for 
they seem to prefer earthly honor rather than heavenly. From 
another point of view, this poem is the most spectacular 
presentation of the pre-eminence of Christ to be found in the 
Bible. The imagery is not excelled even by Sinai's Mountain 
or John on the Isle of Patmos. Christ's face, shining like 
the face of the sun in the Shekinah light, and two heavenly 
messengers appearing on the scene, are enough to overcome 
the disciples. Moses, dead fourteen hundred years, comes 
and seems to lay down the law at the feet of Jesus. Elijah, 
dead nine hundred years, seems to lay down prophecy in 
the same place. To raise the scene to the highest, God him- 
self speaks out of the heavens and gives all preference to his 
Son in the glorious words, "Hear ye him." 

To parallel this poem, either in the richness of its theme 
or the splendor of its imagery, we have searched in vain in 
secular literature. The poem seems to stand alone in its 
grandeur and sublimity of conception. 

Not only do we find the Gospels filled with unique poems 
but also very poetic passages. Note the beauty in the follow- 
ing, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." "Consider the 
liles of the field, how they grow, they toil not neither do they 
spin. Yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his 
glory was not arrayed like one of these." "Glory to God 
in the highest; peace on earth, good will toward men." 
These are merely specimen jewels of this book of eternal 
setting. 

Thus, whether we examine the Gospels in their single 
passages, in their larger wholes, or as constituting a single 
whole, we find them the very acme of poetry. 



102 BIBLE IDEALS 

How fitting that the Bible, which is the inspiration of 
all poetry, should have been given in the main in poetry. 
Thirty out of its forty authors were poets. The religion 
of which the Bible is the basis had for its fitting harbinger 
the song of .the morning stars and the sons of God. No 
wonder the monarch minstrel and prophets of song could 
sing so sweetly on the holy hills of Zion. We are not sur* 
prised that its Messiah was heralded to earth by a hallelu- 
jah chorus of angels singing, "Glory to God in the highest, 
peace on earth, good will toward men." It is not strange 
that such a divine religion has been sung in the poetry of 
every tongue in the world, and has filled the universe with 
light and sweetness. And finally shall the poets, singers, 
and beauty-loving souls of the ages make heaven's dome re- 
sound with the glad notes of redemption's song. 

Great Book! The brightest jewel of earth and sweetest 
gift of heaven. Let us look into this palace of diamond-set 
truths and enjoy some of heaven here and secure an assurance 
that eternity shall be filled with glory. 

PREFACE TO JOHN'S GOSPEL 

The incarnation is the thought idealized in John's preface. 
It rises into grandeur and even into sublimity. 

The story of the incarnation begins as does the marvelous 
poem of creation, on the mountain tops of sublimity. 

"In the beginning was the Word, 
And the Word was with God, 
And the Word was God." 

At once we are plunged beyond all human realms of 
thought, for the mind cannot conceive of the ultimate begin- 
ning. We cannot even say that it was when God began 
world-building, for Christ must have existed prior to that 
time. 

A word is a sign of an idea; therefore the Word referred 



BIBLE IDEALS 103 

to, is the meaning of God — Christ is the meaning of God, 
or he is God manifest in the flesh. 

Then we are told that thru Christ everything in the uni- 
verse was made. In him was life, and that life was the light 
of men. "And the light shineth into the darkness, and the 
darkness comprehended it not." This is certainly true of 
the Jews, but not of the Gentiles, for they are in a measure 
comprehending this light which came to earth to chase away 
its shadows. 

The story of Jesus coming to the earth which he had 
made, and not being received by his own people, is one of 
the saddest of literature. "He came to his own, and his own 
received him not. But as many as received him, to them 
gave he power to become the sons of God." 

The incarnation is unique. It impresses one with the 
sublimity of the God-movement and the littleness of the man- 
movement. We see the divine ongoing in creation and the 
mysterious incarnation. Christ ever moves as a God, while 
man seems not able to comprehend him and dispel the dark- 
ness that has gathered around him. 

MAGNIFICAT 

Luke 1:46-55. 

This beautiful lyric immediately follows the Ave Maria. 
Mary has gone into the hill country to visit Elizabeth. In 
reply to her cousin's greeting, Mary breaks forth into a 
divine strain: 

"My soul doth magnify the Lord. 

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 

For he hath looked upon the low estate of his hand maiden, 

For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me 

blessed. 
For he that is mighty hath done unto me great things; and 

holy is his name, 



101 BIBLE I D E ALS 



And his mercy is unto generations and generations of them 

that fear him. 
He hath shown strength with his arms; 
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their 

heart. 
He hath put down princes from their thrones^ 
And hath exalted them of low degree. 
The hungry he hath filled with good things; 
And the rich he hath sent empty away. 
He hath helped Israel his servant, that he might remember 

mercy 
(As he spake unto our father) toward Abraham and his seed 

forever." 

Nothing but inspiration could have produced such a sublime 
magnifying of the Lord. It reminds one of the grand strains 
of the psalmist or the old prophets. 

SHEPHERD SCENE 
Luke 2:8-21. 

This is one of the prettiest, one of the most picturesque 
of all Biblical poems. It has a scenic splendor akin to Sinai's 
mountain, the Apocalyptic visions, or Transfiguration Moun- 
tain. The theme is trust. 

The shepherds are tending their flocks on the Judean 
hills. For many years they have been hoping and expecting 
a star to arise in the East. Suddenly their hope is realized. 
An angel, too, begins to sing above them and presently a 
whole chorus of angels singing the grandest oratorio ever 
heard by man. "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, 
good will toward men. For unto you this day is born a 
Savior in Bethlehem who is Christ the Lord." 

The shekinah light, the angelic voices, and realized ex- 
pectation, inspire the shepherds to the highest faith. They 
immediately start in the direction of the Star and are guided 
by it to Bethlehem, where they find the babe lying in a 



^ BIBLE IDEALS 105 

manger. They tell Mary that an angel has told them that 
the babe is the Savior of the world, Christ the Lord. Then 
they return praising God and glorifying his holy name for 
the wonderful revelation to them. Mary ponders these things 
in her heart, wondering what they can mean. 

This poem may be compared with Crossing the Bar. Ten- 
nyson in the evening of life is sweetly trusting in God. 

"Sunset and evening star. 
And one clear call to me. 
And may there be no moaning of the bar. 
When I put out to sea." 

"And may there be no sadness of farewell. 
When I embark; 

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place 
The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face 
When I have crossed the bar." 

REALITY vs. APPEARANCE 
Matthew 3:7-13. 

This theme is strikingly set forth in the brief bit of 
scripture cited. Self-righteousness may be another theme for 
it. 

John takes us from "viper" men to the spirit-filled and 
spirit-thrilled life of the consecrated Christian. 

The great Forerunner seeing the hypocritical Pharisees 
and Sadducees coming to his baptism, calls them by their right 
name: "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to 
flee from the wrath to come?" The preacher is absolutely 
fearless. The sham and pretense in the life of these legalists, 
Pharisees, are so repulsive to this man of God that he shows 
them publicly just exactly where they stand. Continuing, 
John says, "Bring forth fruit meet for repentance, and think 
not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father ; 
for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise 



106 BIBLE IDEA LS 

up Children unto Abraham" ; in other words^ if you have 
come to my baptism, you must show that you are repentant, 
bring forth fruits meet for repentance, show by your conduct, 
your life, that you are in earnest. Do not think for once that 
you can hide behind the boast of being Children of Abraham. 
A towering personality, a very God-Christ, is now on the 
earth compared with whom I am nothing, nor is my baptism 
to be compared with his. I baptize you only with water 
unto repentance, but "he shall baptize you with the Holy 
Spirit, and with fire." He will produce a real divine change 
making you "a new creature," and enabling you to say, "for 
me to live is Christ." There will be real cleansing when he 
does his work. Nothing but reality will stand with him. 

This theme of reality versus appearance finds an extensive 
treatment throughout the gospels. The make-believe religious 
life of the Jewish Church, especially in its ruling classes, 
illustrates appearance. We are reminded, too, of the same 
theme so admirably treated in the Uncrowned King. 

TEMPTATION 
Matt. 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13. 

The inspiration of an ideal is the theme of this noted bit 
of scripture. Jesus, tho a man, ever acts as in the immediate 
presence of the Infinite. His faith is God-like and through 
such great trust he gains the victory. 

The Holy Spirit has just descended upon him without 
measure, and with it the fullness of his Messianic conscious- 
ness. Being a man, a Jew, he is tempted. What shall be the 
nature of his Messiahship? Shall it be spiritual or not? So 
great is his absorption in the question, he seeks the solitude 
of the Wilderness, and forgets his body for forty days and 
nights. He is tempted at the end of this time to use his power 
in miraculously relieving his intense hunger by making bread 
of stones, but even in an agony of hunger he still prefers the 
word of God, spiritual food, to physical food. Under such 
trying conditions, to hear him say, "Man shall not live by 



BIBLE IDEALS 107 

bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God," is sublime. Such appreciation of the word 
of God by his followers, would shortly make the world a 
paradise. 

Next the tempter candies the hook of temptation all over 
with display of power, so palatable to nearly all men. The 
tempter, too, has learned to quote the scriptures on Christ, 
but Jesus hurling the scriptures back at him thwarts him 
again. 

Finally the supreme test to a Jew or any other man is 
given, money or world dominion. Just fall down and worship 
me and I will give thee all the world. With not a moment's 
hesitation Jesus replies, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for it 
is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him 
only shalt thou serve." Then we are told that "angels came 
and ministered to him." 

It is clear that God is ever first in Jesus' mind. "Seek 
ye first the Kingdom of God ;" this is what Jesus always does. 
And he says to us, "I am the way." Are we at all times 
striving to realize his high ideals? 

In the third temptation a thousand-fold more allurement 
is offered to Christ than appears in the noted poem. Ex- 
celsior. The great God-man is ever living under the inspira- 
tion of the highest. The tempter may become an "angel of 
light" and bait his hook with more than ever caught Eve or 
any other person; but Christ's matchless insight and faith 
keep him always on the royal road of the Divine. 

SERMON ON THE MOUNT 
Matthew 5-7, Luke 6. 

The theme of this most famous of all sermons is ideal 
living. The discourse is really a fine bit of literature setting 
forth the qualities of an ideal man. ^ 

The typical man painted for us by the Christ is a cross 
to the then-known world. He is poor in spirit, meek, hungers 
and thirsts after righteousness, is merciful, pure in heart, is a 



108 BIBLE IDEALS 

peace-maker, and takes it Desdemona-like when he is per- 
secuted for righteousness' sake. He is pictured as the salt of 
the earth, a preserver and purifier. The figure then is im- 
mediately changed to the light of the world. The ideal man 
is made as a light in the heavens, a city set on a hill. 

Jesus is a keen analyst. He shows to his ideal man that 
to look on a woman to lust after her is adultery, and also that 
there is but one ground of divorce and that is fornication. 
He leaves no loopholes; one's thoughts and actions must both 
be right. Jesus' ideal man is exhorted to suffer wrongs, not 
an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but an exhortation 
to turn the other cheek. This may displease the pugnacious 
who expect to fight their way into the land of pure delight. 
God's ideal man must love his enemies, bless them who perse- 
cute him, and do good to such. If he does good only to those 
who do him good, he is no better than the publicans and 
sinners are. 

The Christ type of man never parades his alms before 
men. Unlike the hypocrites who sound a trumpet in the 
street to be seen of men, Jesus' ideal man does not let his 
right hand know what his left hand does. The parading 
nfethod misses the divine blessing. The divine type of man 
has the same idea in regard to prayer. He does not pray on 
the street corners to be seen of men; this is piosity: real 
piety moves the ideal man. He enters into his closet, shuts 
the door, prays to his Father in secret, and his Father who 
seeth in secret rewards him openly. 

The same law of lack of parade characterizes fasting. 
To man, Jesus' ideal type of man does not appear to fast, 
but only to God. When he fasts he anoints his head with 
oil and washes his face. All disfigurement of face and sad- 
ness of countenance are removed. 

Jesus' ideal man has a correct valuation of things; he 
makes first things first. He lays up treasures in heaven rather 
than on the earth. His eye is single, and not double; he does 
not use a double-barreled gun with the load in the wrong 



BIBLE IDEALS 109 

barrel. Changing the figure as the Bible is so prone to do, 
the ideal man knows he cannot consistently serve two masters ; 
either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will 
hold to the one, and despise the other. God and mammon 
come together about like the north poles of two magnets; 
still their being forced together has caused demagnetization 
of myriads of people. 

Knowing the interest men would have in worldly things, 
Jesus exhorts his ideal man not to be over anxious concerning 
worldly things such as food, clothing, and shelter. By a 
beautiful illustration which shows that the lilies, which take 
no thought, are arrayed more splendidly than even Solomon in 
all his glory, Jesus convinces his ideal man that he will 
take care of him, will lead him into green pastures and by 
still waters. 

Rash judging is forbidden to the ideal man; it will always, 
like a boomerang, return upon its sender. If one first casts 
the saw-logs out of his own eye, he then can see clearly to 
pick the little chunk out of his brother's eye. The only law 
of judging allowed is, "by their fruits ye shall know them." 
By this law false prophets can easily be told. Men do not 
gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles. A good tree 
cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor vice versa. 

Pretense is an offense to Jesus' ideal man. Action is 
the test of this man's faith. "Not every one that saith unto 
me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven; but 
he that doeth the will of my Father who art in heaven." 
Pretense and talk will never pave the way to ideal life. 

Finally the Christ type of man builds on the solid rock 
Christ Jesus, and not the shifting sands of time. The winds 
may come, the floods rage and dash furiously against the 
house on the rock, but it stands ; while the same elements 
sweep the house on the sands to destruction. 

In this bit of idealization, Jesus has given the world a 
type of man who adorns heaven here below and will one day 
beautify the heavens above. In the totality of ideal qualities 



no BIBLE IDEALS 

no type in secular literature can be cited for comparison. 
No mere man is competent to paint an ideal equal to Jesus' 
typical man. 

CONSIDER THE LILIES 
Matthew 6:28-34, Luke 12:27-34. 

This poem, in both form and content, is considered one 
of the gems of the New Testament. Its theme is God's pro- 
tecting care or God's providence, 

Jesus passes from the fearing, worrying, worldly minded 
men who are ever concerned about this world's goods, to the 
trusting, tranquil, spiritually minded Christian who knows 
that "all things work together for good to them that love the 
Lord." 

Says Jesus, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they 
grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto 
you, that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed 
like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of 
the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, 
shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" 
Even tho the lilies do nothing, they are more beautifully 
arrayed than Solomon in all his glory. The comparison is 
striking and very suggestive. The same may be said of the 
comparison between the grass of the field and his care for 
his children. 

Jesus further tells us not to be concerned about the morrow 
as to what we shall eat, drink, or wear; for says he, "after 
all these things do the Gentiles seek." He would not have 
his people like the Gentiles. The first concern of these world- 
ly people is this world's goods, but the peculiar people of 
God should have as their first interest spiritual things. Con- 
tinues Jesus, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his 
righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." 
It is as clear as daylight that the Christian's first duty is 
toward the kingdom of God. Any man who believes Jesus' 
own word must hold to this. Jesus gives in this connection 



BIBLE IDEALS m 

a further reason for this view. "Where your treasure is, there 
will your heart be also." It could not be otherwise. There- 
fore Jesus would have the treasure spiritual. He assures his 
children as does the psalmist that he is our shepherd and 
that we shall not want, and that we shall lie down in green 
pastures and be led by the side of still waters, so to speak. 
He gives perfect assurance that the heavenly Father is not 
unmindful of things that we need, and that he will provide 
them. No one in touch with the matchless activity of the 
Infinite, doubts this for a moment. In tune with the Divine 
means in tune with activity. 

Psalm 23 is most like this poem in theme and treatment. 
Jesus' idealization is perhaps more appealing. One is also 
reminded of the providence that guided the Waterfowl of 
Bryant, and also Browning's Guardian Angel. We are further 
reminded of Jesus's saying in regard to sparrows. "Are 
not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall 
not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very 
hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, ye 
are of more value than many sparrows.'* 

GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE * * * 

John 3:16. 

Like some of Browning's poems this is a colossal little 
poem. It is even one of God's biggest least poems, and so 
clearly shows love's nature to give. 

It is God's golden message to the world, comprehending 
the sum-total of sixteen hundred years of love revelation. It 
tells of a love that loves, a love that serves, a love that 
sacrifices. In it we see the father-heart of God, the mother- 
heart of Christ, yes, the friend-heart of the world's truest 
Friend. Here we are swept out into the universal, beholding 
a world-lover, a world-man, a world-thinker, a world- 
sympathizer, a non-respecter of persons, one whose mind 
and heart reach across races, recognizing no distinctions, no 
political lines, no social distinctions. Jesus is a genuine 



112 BIBLE IDEA LS 

helper, a universal helper, not narrowed down to a little clan. 
It is a great God and a great Christ set forth in this re- 
nowned poem. 

The idealization in this poem is divinely beautiful and 
great. God gives his best and only, to die for the worst. 
No higher measure of love can be found. We are reminded 
of Gethsemane and Calvary; also of the hymn: 

"There's a wideness in God's mercy. 
Like the wideness of the sea ; 
There's a kindness in his justice, 
Which is more than liberty. 

For the love of God is broader 
Than the measure of man's mind. 
And the heart of the Eternal 
Is most wonderfully kind." 

Two other comparisons may be given. 

1. "Thy commandment is exceeding broad/* 

2. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my 
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts." 

CENTURION'S SERVANT HEALED 
Matthew 8:5-13. 

Faith receives one of its very highest idealizations in this 
scripture. 

A centurion's servant is at death's door. The officer, who 
loves the Jews and had built them a synagogue, sends the 
elders to Jesus to beseech him to come and heal his servant. 
When Jesus is nearing the centurion's house, the officer sends 
Him word that he is unworthy to have Him come into his 
house. "Only speak the word and my servant shall be healed." 
Jesus marveled at such faith, saying, "I have not found so 
great faith, no, not in Israel." This, being a Gentile, seems 



BIBLE IDEALS US 



to astonish Jesus^ for faith so great could hardly be expected 
I'rom a heathen. 

This compares in idealization with the touch of His gar- 
ment, and the look at the Brazen Serpent. Very few cases 
are worthy to be compared with this. 

Any one may learn from this that if he is ever to be at 
peace with his God, he must take Him at his word, — "His 
word is life, is spirit." If it is believed and acted upon it 
is life-giving. 

THE WIDOW OF NAIN 
Luke 7:11-17. 

Jesus' compassion is the one absorbing idea in the story. 
One of the most characteristic features of Jesus' life is here 
clearly portrayed. 

A poor widow, grief-stricken, weeping bitterly, is follow- 
ing the staff of her support, her only son, to the cemetery. 
Jesus, meeting the i3rocession, is touched by the spectacle. 
He sees the widow weeping and determines to help her. His 
first words are: "Weep not." He stops the procession, 
touches the bier, and says, "Young man, I say unto thee, 
arise." Imagine the joy of that weeping widow when the 
boy springs up and throws his arms of love about his dear 
mother's neck. No language can paint the emotions surging 
in that poor woman's soul. 

The effect on all was wonderful. "Fear took hold on 
all: and they glorified God, saying, a great prophet is risen 
among us, and God hath visited his people." 

In this idealization we have the direst need relieved 
thru the compassionate love of the World-Sympathizer. 
Other cases at once arise to mind, such as Jairus' daughter, 
raising of Lazarus, feeding of five thousand, and also the 
four thousand, and Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, but com- 
parisons in secular literature can nowhere be found. 



114 BIBLE IDEALS 

TREASURE IN A FIELD.— PEARL OF 
GREAT PRICE 

This brief but notable poem gives the highest valuation of 
salvation. This is Jesus' own value^ and it is therefore sure 
that salvation can not be had short of the purchase price. 

Jesus in speaking to the people says, "The Kingdom of 
Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when 
a man hath found he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and 
selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." When the 
man sees the treasure, he is willing to give all he has for it. 

Jesus re-enforces the same idea by a similar parable. 
Says he, "The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant- 
man seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl 
of great price, went and sold all he had, and bought it." 

According to Jesus, salvation costs nothing short of all. 
It means complete surrender, a giving up of all to the divine. 
Jesus requires of man just what he himself has given; he 
gave all and therefore demands all in return. Anything short 
of this could not meet the divine purpose. God asks that our 
wills be completely lost in his; otherwise the Divine and 
human could not be one. It is clear that in parable the whole 
heart is in the enterprise. "Where a man's treasure is, there 
will his heart be also." We see too an earnest seeking for 
the "treasure and pearl." Things of great value demand 
just such earnest search. 

The value of salvation is very highly idealized, for one 
could not give more than all. The Rime of the Ancient 
Mariner may be compared with this poem. The Mariner 
gives up all to get out of his thralldom into the free at- 
mosphere of salvation. Jesus places, too, a very high value 
on salvation, comparing it with the whole world. "What shall 
it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his 
own soul?" But the highest value of salvation is found on 
the God side when we see the Divine Being actually giving 



BIBLE IDEALS 115 

up his only Son for man's sake, and when we see the Son 
dying the ignominious death of the cross. 

ANOINTING OF JESUS IN THE PHARISEE'S HOUSE 

Luke 7:36-50. 

Faith working by love, is the central idea in this story. 
The woman is clearly shown to love much and to possess 
great faith. 

This woman is a sinner recognized as such by both the 
Pharisee and Jesus. While the Savior is in the Pharisee's 
house dining, the woman comes repenting and kneels at Jesus' 
feet. Her tears flow so freely that she washes his feet with 
them. She wipes his feet with her hair, and anoints them 
with costly ointment. The Pharisee seeing this, discounts his 
guest for permitting such a sinner to wash his feet; but Jesus 
reminds him of what he did not do, and puts in contrast 
what she has done for him. Simon is led to see that his 
love is nothing as shown by his action, when compared with 
what the poor woman has done. Therefore, Jesus says, "Her 
sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for she loves much. * * * 
Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace." 

Here we have a sinner saved by faith. Thru great con- 
fidence she loves Jesus, and shows it by worshipping him and 
offering true service to him. She also sacrifices perhaps all 
her earnings to anoint his feet. She shows clearly her love 
and repentance by her actions. Jesus is convinced and 
satisfied. 

The idealization of faith, repentance, and love is rather 
high. The woman is a recognized sinner of the city, but she 
is willing to give all she has and to perform the most menial 
service possible to show her love for Christ. No one can 
mistake her love, her repentance, or her faith. 

This story is in sad contrast with the rich young man 
who came to Jesus. The latter refuses to do even what 
Jesus asks him to do; he cannot see his way clearly to 



116 BIBLE IDEALS 

give up all and fall in line with Jesus' will. In other words 
he cannot see Jesus, but instead, his wealth. 

WOMAN WITH ISSUE OF BLOOD 
Matthew 9:,?0-22, Mark 5:25-35, Luke 8:43-48. 

Faith in even a touch is the theme of this bit of narration, 
a faith so remarkable, so wonderful that it has been handed 
down the centuries. 

In this poem we see the world-wide difference between 
divine and human physicians. This woman has been treated 
by physicians for twelve years, has spent all she had, and has 
grown worse. She now comes to the great physician, but he 
is thronged by a multitude. She cannot think of engaging 
his attention, but her faith in the divine healer is so great 
that she fully expects total recovery if she but touch the hem 
of his garment. So without letting Jesus know of her pres- 
ence, she slips up and merely touches the hem of his garment. 
Instantly she feels her disease has left her. 

Jesus turns around and asks who touched him. The dis- 
ciples think it is a queer question inasmuch as he is pressed 
on all sides; but Christ still maintains that virtue has gone 
out of him. Trembling the healed woman falls at his feet 
and tells him all. Then says Jesus, "Daughter, thy faith 
hath made thee whole ; go in peace." 

The idealization here is very remarkable, for such a thing 
as a touch healing a person had never been known. The 
woman had tried the doctors for twelve years, and now to 
think that a touch would instantly heal her. Such faith is 
wonderful. 

On basis of idealization we are reminded of the Cen- 
turion's Servant where he said to Christ, "Only speak the 
word and my servant shall be healed," — just a word — heal- 
ing at a distance. Again, the Brazen Serpent has a similar 
idealization, because here only a look was necessary for 
complete healing. If the sick one in agony because of the 



BIBLE IDEALS m 

snake bites_, could only be dragged to the door of the tent and 
caused to look at the Brazen Serpent_, instantly complete 
health would be restored. Another comparison may be made 
with the hymn, "Look and Live/' where the idealization is 
based on a look at the Christ, resulting in life. 

JAIRUS' DAUGHTER 
Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40-56. 

We see here a man tried to the uttermost in his faith. 
The ruler of the synagogue hastens to Jesus and prostrates 
himself at his feet, praying him to come at once, for his 
daughter lies dying. There was no time to lose, but Jesus 
delayed, stopping to heal a woman with an issue of blood. 
No one can fully imagine the awful suspense in Jairus' mind. 
Now one comes and tells him to trouble the Master no further, 
for his daughter is already dead. Jesus hearing it, says, 
"Fear not, only believe." Here the test is at the highest. 
Jesus has delayed until the damsel is dead, and how can he 
do anything now? Yet the presumption is that Jairus be- 
lieved Jesus would bring his daughter to life. 

On reaching the house the mourners were already in a 
hubbub. When Jesus tells them the maid is not dead, they 
laugh him to scorn; but he puts them all out and takes the 
father, mother, Peter, James and John and enters the death 
chamber. In an atmosphere of faith, he simply takes the 
maid by the hand and says, "Talatha Cumi," which being 
interpreted, "Damsel, I say unto thee, arise!" Immediately 
she arises and walks. Only imagination can paint the greet- 
ing between the father and daughter. No doubt the greeting 
between mother and daughter was just as cordial. 

Nowhere in secular literature do we find such flights of 
idealization attempted. Faith in immediate results with death 
in the way, is not worked out by any of the secular poets. 

If we compare this poem with the Raising of Lazarus, 
seemingly we find greater faith here, for there is no evidence 



118 BIBLE IDEALS 

on Jairus' part that he doubted; but there is on Martha's 
part as to immediate aid. 

JOHN BEHEADED 
Mark 6:17-20, Matthew 14:1-14, Luke 3:19-20. 

From the standpoint of John the Baptist, the theme is 
duty sublime; from Herod's standpoint, rashness; from the 
daughter's standpoint, giddiness. 

From the utter wickedness and malice of Herodias and 
Herod, we pass to the alomst sublime conception of duty of 
John the Forerunner. 

John is a typical man of God, doing his duty even tho 
the heavens fall. Herod is the wicked king of the country 
and is therefore to be dreaded, and Herodias more so; John 
fearlessly tell Herod he should not have his brother Philip's 
wife. This so angers the wicked woman that she tries to kill 
the preacher, but Herod fears the people who think John a 
prophet. Foiled in her attempt on John's life, the wily woman 
instructs her daughter how to get her enemy's head. The 
king is to have a birthday soon. The giddy daughter, pursu- 
ant to her vengeful mother's plans, goes in and dances before 
the drunken king. Being much pleased Herod asks the 
daughter to state what she desires, promising it even to the 
half of his kingdom. Now is her chance to please her mother. 
So she asks for John the Baptist's head in a charger. The 
king orders it given to her altho he feels some compunction of 
conscience in doing so. It is plain that Herodias is even 
more vile than the adulterous beast whom she is living with. 

Duty is very highly idealized here, for John gives his 
life in order to do his duty. Men of his stamp are not myriad 
in number. Stephen, Paul and Christ were as fearless in 
doing their duty. One of the greatest needs of the day is 
fearless defenders of the right. 

Rashness and giddiness are typified in Herod and the 
daughter. Herod never should have made such a rash promise 



BIBLE IDEALS 119 



to his step-daughter, nor should he have fulfilled such a 
promise, even tho in the presence of his lords. The vow and 
its fulfilment are very much like Jephthah's rash vow, though 
rashness in Jephthah is more highly idealized, for he had 
sixty days in which to deliberate on an only daughter's death. 

THE FIVE THOUSAND 
Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14. 

Two themes claim attention ; viz., the all sufficiency of God 
and the unswerving purpose of Jesus. 

As long as Jesus had been with the disciples they had 
not yet learned that he is all-sufficient. Seeing a multitude 
of perhaps ten thousand people, they are troubled about what 
they are to do for food. This seething mass of humanity, 
having become wrought up by Jesus' miracles, will not even 
let him go into a secluded spot across the sea to hold a con- 
ference with his returned disciples. They follow him to the 
other side of the sea, and he has compassion on them. The 
doubting disciples are given a lesson in the all-sufficiency of 
God. With five loaves and two fishes, not enough for one 
hungry boy, they see Jesus feed this multitude, and take up 
afterwards twelve baskets full of fragments. The excited 
multitude attempt to make him king, but true to his unswerv- 
ing spiritual purpose he refused. 

This no doubt calls up the manna in the Wilderness, 
Gideon with his three hundred, Isaiah's prayer meeting when 
Sennacherib invaded Judea. So should it say to us that 
"one and the Lord are a majority," and that Jesus is sufficient 
for any occasion. 

This poem may also be compared with Saint Agnes' Eve 
by Tennyson. Here the worshipper is fully satisfied with 
God, and regards him as altogether sufficient. We may also 
compare the poem with Washington refusing to become king 
of America. In contrast we see Caesar reluctantly refusing 
the crown. 



120 BIBLE IDEALS 

JOHN DOUBTING THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST 

Matthew 11:2-19, Luke 7:18-35. 

The theme of this narrative is clear frcm the subject. 
Doubt, that demon which so disturbs man's peace, is here 
highly idealized. On the part of Jesus, perfect poise is the 
theme. 

John, who has been all action, lies languishing in a gloomy 
prison. He learns that the kingdom of Christ is proceeding 
very slowly, in painful contrast with his own dash. The 
good man being depleted in both body and mind, begins to 
doubt, and sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he really is the 
Messiah, or should they look for another. Jesus receives the 
messengers kindly and tells them to note what is being done; 
that the poor have the gospel preached to them; the lame 
are healed, the blind made to see; the dumb, to speak; the 
deaf, to hear; the lepers are cleansed; the dead are raised up. 
They are then^ to report and let John be judge. 

After the messengers leave, Jesus pronounces upon John 
encomiums which rarely fall from his lips. Although doubted, 
Jesus treats the doubter in a Godlike way. 

This doubt is remarkable for two reasons. 1. John was 
divinely appointed as the forerunner of Christ to prepare the 
way. 2. He had been told that on whomsoever he saw the 
Spirit descending and lighting, the same should be the Messiah. 
John, after he baptized Christ, saw this manifestation from 
heaven and even heard the voice of God speaking: "This 
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." In the face 
of such evidence, his doubt is remarkable. 

This case of doubt may be put in striking contrast with 
the sublime faith of Joseph even in the inner prison, with 
Daniel's Godlike faith, as well as with Paul's. These stal- 
warts undergoing every hardship and standing firm in the 
faith, are wholesome. 

We may further compare with doubting Thomas, all of 
the disciples on at least two occasions, Joshua and the elders 



BIBLE I D E A LS l':i 



after the defeat at Ai, Israelites sighing for the flesh pots 
of Egypt, Elijah when Jezebel threatened him, and Peter 
walking on the sea. As to perfect poise, Joseph, Paul and 
Henry the Fifth may be cited as comparisons. 

PETER WALKING ON THE SEA 
Matthew 14:24-36, Mark 6:47-56, John 6:16-21. 

Doubt, the all but universal enemy of mankind, receives 
a high degree of idealization in this story. This is rather 
remarkable since Peter had such a background of assurance. 

Just the day before, Jesus had fed the five thousand. 
They had tried to crown him king, but he got his disciples 
aboard on the lake, dismissed the multitudes, and went up 
into the mountain to pray, for being a man he must have been 
tempted. 

This is one time that he prays all night. The disciples 
have been struggling all this time with the waves, for the 
wind has been tearing down the mountains and piling up the 
sea. About the fourth watch Jesus comes down the mountain 
and walks on the sea. The frightened disciples think he is a 
ghost, but when he speaks they know his voice. Impetuous 
Peter tells Jesus to bid him come down on the sea if it be the 
Christ. Jesus accedes to his wishes, and Peter actually walks 
on the sea so long as his eyes are fixed on the Master. But 
he takes them off of Jesus and puts them on the boisterous 
waves. At that moment he begins to sink. He cries out, 
"Lord, save me." Jesus rescues him, and says to him, "O 
thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt.''" On going 
up into the boat, the winds cease their roaring, and all recog- 
nize him to be the Son of God. 

This idealization of doubt is heightened by the fact that 
Peter had seen the great miracle of the loaves and fishes the 
day before. Furthermore he had seen Jesus perform won- 
derful miracles during the past year. Even now he sees Him 
walking on the sea. What more evidence does he need? 



122 BIBLE IDEALS 

We are reminded of John the Baptist doubting the Christ 
even tho he had as much evidence of Christ's divinity as had 
Peter. The doubt in Stilling the Tempest also comes to mind, 
and in the Old Testament Elijah's praying to die after the 
wonderful demonstration before the Prophets of Baal. From 
the highest, Elijah sank to the lowest, and with no adequate 
cause, — only Jezebel's threat. How strange that doubt creeps 
in so soon after such marvelous demonstrations of God's 
power ! 

In secular literature we find types of the doubt of Bryant 
in his Waterfowl, of Geraint in Idyls of the King, of Othello, 
of Leontes in Winter's Tale, and of Posthumous in Cymbeline. 
The demon, doubt, in some of these, committed great ravages. 
In fact, one of life's worst demons is doubt. No wonder 
Jesus based the Christian religion on faith. Practically all 
human happiness is based upon it. Confidence, frankness, 
and square dealing would largely make a heaven of this earth. 

SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN'S DAUGHTER 

Matthew 15:21-31, Mark 7:24-37. 

Persistency of faith is the organizing idea of this poem. 
Like Jacob of old, the Gentile woman persists until she is 
blessed. 

Jesus has left Palestine and gone into the coast of Tyre 
and Sidon, seeking a place of retirement; but we are told 
that "he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young 
daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and 
fell at his feet." The woman is a Greek and has no claim on 
Christ, yet she pleads with him to cast the devil out of her 
daughter. Jesus tells her he is sent to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel. But this opposition only increases her 
earnestness, for she continues to worship and cries out, "Lord, 
help me." Such faith and zeal in winning souls for Christ 
would soon win the world. Now she is reminded of the fact 
that she is a dog, that "it is not meet to take the children's 



BIBLE IDEALS 123 

bread and cast it to dogs." Tho called a dog, the anxious 
mother is undaunted, and more earnestly than ever she replies, 
"Yes, Lord, yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's 
crumbs." Jesus is won by her faith, and says to her, "O 
woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. 
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." 

This is certainly a high degree of idealization. Rarely 
do we see such persistency in the face of such obstacles and 
rebuffs. We are reminded of the Importunate Widow by this. 
The young man climbing the mountain in Excelsior has a 
similar faith in his ideal of living under the inspiration of 
the highest. Paul in overcoming the tremendous obstacles 
against him, manifested a persistency of faith which has been 
the inspiration of millions of Christians. The disciples prayed 
ten days before their Pentecost came. Daniel over on the 
Euphrates held on to God in prayer for twenty-one days 
before the blessing was given him. The disciples prayed for 
Peter seven days, that his faith fail him not. Such persistency 
is evidently pleasing to God. 

STILLING THE TEMPEST 
Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25 

The demons of doubt and fear are the salient ideas in 
this story. These disciples evidently did not have an abiding 
God-consciousness . 

Jesus is crossing the Sea of Galilee with his disciples 
when a storm arises. The fierce tempest so lashes the sea 
that the waves cover the boat and begin to fill it. Destruc- 
tion seems to threaten them. The disciples, instead of realiz- 
ing the presence of the divine, become alarmed and even 
terror-stricken. They find the tired Master sleeping in one 
end of the boat, entirely oblivious of the threatening elements. 
They cry out to him. "Lord, save us or we perish." He, 
rising, rebukes the winds and waves, and they lie down as 
gentle as a lamb. Then he chides the fearing, doubting dis- 



m BIBLE IDEALS 

ciples, saying, "Where is your faith? Why are ye fearful, 
O ye of little faith? Have ye not yet faith?" So to speak, 
have you been with me over a year and yet cannot trust? 
But they only marvel at him, saying, "What manner of man 
is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" 

This idealization undoubtedly comes home to all of us. 
How often do we, like Peter on the sea, take our eyes off 
of Jesus and immediately begin to sink? How much of the 
time do we have a God-consciousness? Is it abiding? 
How fearful many are, doubting that the Lord is their 
shepherd. 

John Wesley, when coming to America as a missionary, 
found out in a terrific storm that he could not trust God and 
therefore needed to be converted. He saw the Moravians on 
board the tossing vessel as calm as was Jesus in the boat 
on Galilee. He went back home to seek his Lord and to 
come into such fellowship with him that he could trust him 
at all times and under all circumstances. God should be so 
real to every Christian that faith is unwavering. He should 
be able to say with Paul, "I know whom I have believed, 
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have 
committed unto him against that day;" or even in the sunset 
of life, say with Tennyson, 

"I hope to see my Pilot face to face. 
When I have crossed the bar." 

This poem may be further compared with Peter attempt- 
ing to walk on the sea, and sinking because he took his eyes 
off of Jesus and put them on the boisterous waves. It also 
calls up the fearing children of Israel on scores of occasions; 
also the disciples when Jesus was betrayed. In contrast with 
it we mention Daniel in the Lions' den, the three men in the 
fiery furnace, Joseph tempted, Joshua and Caleb about to be 
stoned, the disciples after Pentecost, Paul in his many dangers, 
Jesus in every hour of trial. 



BIBLE IDEALS m 

THE MAN WITH A WITHERED HAND 
Matthew 12:9-14, Mark 3:1-6, Luke 6:6-11. 

Loyalty to the letter of the law, is the theme of this story ; 
loyalty to the letter killeth, by killing love, mercy, compas- 
sion and other Christian virtues. 

Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, sees a man 
with a withered hand. The scribes and Pharisees are watch- 
ing to see what he will do, so that they may accuse him. 
He knows their thoughts, and asks them, "Is it lawful on the 
Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? to save life, or to destroy 
it? What man of you shall there be, who shall have one 
sheep, and if this shall fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will 
he not lay hold on it and lift it out? How much then is a 
man of more value than a sheep ! Wherefore it is lawful to 
do good on the Sabbath day." No one says a word. Then 
Jesus commands the man to stretch forth his hand, and it 
is healed. But the Pharisees "were filled with madness" 
and "took counsel against him, how they might destroy him." 

These cruel so-called religious leaders think it nothing to 
be utterly heartless to the poor afflicted man, or to kill Jesus, 
but it is simply awful to cross one of their incorrect interpreta- 
tions of the law ! These Pharisees have had many cousins all 
down the ages, and even some are left in the morning of the 
twentieth century. The ages are strewn with their wrecks. 
We find other parallels for this story in the healing done at 
the Feast of Purim and also the curing of the woman who 
had been drawn over upon herself for eighteen years. From 
the standpoint of heartlessness and cruelty we may further 
compare the story with The Confessional and the killing of 
the girl in the convent by Marmion. 

TRANSFIGURATION 

Matthew 17:1-13, Mark 9:2-13, Luke 9:28-36. 

In this most spectacular presentation we have more than 
one ideal portrayed. From one standpoint the ideal is the 



126 BIBLE IDEALS 

pre-eminence of Jesus; from another viewpoint the ideal is 
consecration. 

Jesus takes Peter, James and John and goes on Mount 
Hermon to pray. Late in the night, sleep overcomes the 
three apostles, but Jesus prays on. His face becomes shining 
as the sun, his raiment, white and glistening. The dis- 
ciples awake, and Peter says some strange things. The 
dazzling Shekinah overshadows them. Two of the immortals 
appear on the scene, one dead fourteen hundred years, the 
other dead nine hundred years. They lay respectively the 
law and prophecy down at Jesus' feet. When lo ! out of 
heaven God himself speaks, "This is my beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Not Moses, not 
Elijah, but Jesus is given the pre-eminence. We find the 
same preference given in Heb. 1 :1 and 2. The Christ is put 
above the great law-giver and one of the greatest representa- 
tives of prophecy. 

In this imagery we also see consecration idealized. Jesus 
could have gone away to heaven, as Elijah did, but he is 
fully consecrated to God and decides to go down Gethsemane 
road. He is altogether resigned to his fate, as the conversa- 
tion with the immortals shows, but the disciples cannot learn 
the lesson, tho so impressively given. Thev are not trans- 
figured with their Christ; it took a Pentecost to consecrate 
them. 

To parallel this poem in secular literature, we have 
searched in vain. In its spectacular presentation and richness 
of idealization, we cannot find a parallel for it only in the 
Bible. Sinai's mountain, John on the Isle of Patmos, and 
the apocalyptic visions of Ezekiel and Daniel, remind one of 
Transfiguration mountain scene. 

FORGIVENESS 
Matthew 18:15-35. 

Here the theme is forgiveness, or a contrast between God*t 



BIBLE IDEALS 127 



love and man's. Jesus is telling the story, and he certainly 
knows. 

We seem to be swept from the almost infinitesimal of 
man's love to the absolutely wonderful of God's love and for- 
giveness. 

The story is preluded by a rule of action given by Jesus 
for the settling of difficulties in the church. Says Jesus, "If 
thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell his fault 
between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast 
gained thy brother." In another place in God's word, the 
offender is told to go and make it right with the one offended. 
Thus the obligation to be at peace with our fellowman is 
placed equally on offender and offended. Jesus further says, 
"If he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two 
more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word 
may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, 
tell it to the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let 
him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." If 
this law of procedure would be followed, much of the very 
hades there is in the church would be eliminated. 

Now Peter, seemingly having a wave of love sweeping 
over his soul, says to Christ, "Lord, how oft shall my brother 
sin against me and I forgive him.'' till seven times.''" No 
doubt Peter feels he is becoming very, very good to put it 
so large ; but Jesus fairly knocks him down with mathematics. 
Peter, will you apply arithmetic to such a matter.? "Until 
seven times ? Until seventy times seven !" Then to put the 
cap sheaf on this thunder bolt, the masterful story teller 
narrates one of the most wonderful bits of idealization that 
ever fell from even divine lips. In modern parlance, Jesus 
says, let me show you my Father's love and forgiveness set 
over against man's. 

The kingdom of heaven or the church is like unto a certain 
king who would take account of his servants. One is brought 
to him who owes him ten thousand talents or about twelve 



1S8 BIB LE IDEALS 

million dollars. Since there were no millionaires in that day, 
this is an impossible sum to pay, and so is the case with this 
poor debtor. The king now commands him together with 
his wife and children to be sold until payment can be made. 
The servant then falls down and worships his master and 
says, "Lord have patience with me, and I will pay thee 
all." This touches the master's heart, and he forgives him 
the entire debt. This manifestation of a very Pacific Ocean 
of love and forgiveness is the picture of the dear God. Now 
begins the exceedingly painful contrast. This very servant 
goes out and finds one of his fellow-servants who owes him the 
pitiful little sum of one hundred pence, about sixteen dollars 
and twenty-five cents in our money. He seizes the poor 
man by the throat and says, "Pay me that thou owest." A 
veritable demon seems to possess the forgiven debtor. The 
poor servant falls down and beseeches the man, saying, "Have 
patience with me, and I will pay thee all," the very words 
that were said to the king. But they now fall unheeded on 
man's ears, for he thrusts the poor fellow into prison until 
he can pay the debt. We have compared God's love and 
forgiveness to the Pacific Ocean, but where is the spring 
on earth so infinitesimally small as to represent this man's 
forgiveness } 

The fellow servants of the poor debtor take the matter 
up and report to the king, who commands the forgiven rascal 
to be brought before him. Now he has fairly to face the 
cannon's mouth, for the king says, "O thou wicked servant, 
I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me; 
shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy 
fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?" The 
king being wroth, delivers the servant over to the 
tormentors, till he shall pay all that was due him. This, of 
course, is an impossibility. "So likewise," says Jesus, "shall 
ray heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from your hearts for- 
give not every one his brother their trespasses." This is in 
harmony with Jesus* famous words: "If ye forgive not men 



BIBLE IDEALS 129 

their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you 
your trespasses." In the face of this, how can any one who 
harbors unforgiveness in his heart claim to be a Christian? 

This poem in its entirety is without parallel in secular 
literature. In the Merchant of Venice we see a type of unfor- 
giveness perhaps as cruel and heartless as the debtor here 
is, but we do not find in the Christian of that play the high 
type of forgiveness that is portrajed in this Biblical poem. 

JESUS SHOWS WHO ARE WORTHY TO FOLLOW HIM 

Matthew 8:19-22, Luke 9:57-62. 

In these scriptures we see the true follower of Christ 
highly idealized. Jesus is made first and not second, above 
every other consideration in the world. This is a verifica- 
tion, of the text, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." 

We see a scribe seemingly eager to follow Jesus. Run- 
ning to him, the scribe says, "Master, I will follow thee 
whithersoever thcu goest." But Jesus' answer seems to imply 
this: are you so sure you want to follow me? In your en- 
thusiasm have you counted the cost? "The foxes have holes, 
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man 
hath not where to lay his head." In the light of such priva- 
tion do you now think you want to follow me ? 

Another of his disciples makes the seemingly reasonable 
request to be permitted to go and bury his dead father. But 
Jesus replies, "Let the dead bury their dead." Still another 
disciple desires to go and bid his loved ones farewell. Jesus' 
reply in this case is, "No man having put his hand to the 
plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." 

These cases may seem extreme, but they only idealize 
adequately true discipleship. If one is to be worthy in Jesus' 
sight, he must seek "first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness." As a rule men and even too many Christians are 
making other things first, and God second. The Divine will 
never takes a second place in any man's heart. He must 



130 BIBLE IDEALS 

have the right of way or nothing at all. He has said of the 
lukewarm, "I will spew you out of my mouth." 

In degree of idealization this story may well be compared 
with The Pearl of Greatest Price, the Treasure Hidden in a 
Field, The Rich Young Ruler who would not pay the price. 
The Vision of Sir Launfal, and The Rime of the Ancient 
Mariner. Nothing short of first valuation will pass with God. 

THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY 
John 8:1-11. 

In this story the theme is mercy. Nothing but mercy could 
reach such a character. 

Jesus is in the temple teaching great crowds of people, 
when the scribes and Pharisees bring a woman to him and 
say, "Master, this woman has been taken in adultery, in the 
very act. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone 
such: what then sayest thou of her.'* And this they said 
tempting him, that they might have whereof to accuse him." 
But Jesus simply stoops down and writes in the sand. They 
keep asking him the question. He finally replies, "Let him 
that is without sin cast the first stone." Then they like 
sheep-killing dogs begin to file out until no one but the woman 
is left. Jesus asks where her accusers are, and if any man 
has condemned her. She replies, "No man, Lord." Jesus 
now pronounces his great denouement, "Neither do I con- 
demn thee; go and sin no more." 

The idealization here is remarkable, for there can be no 
doubt as to the woman's guilt. She does not deny it; nor 
does Jesus give any idea that she is innocent, but on the 
other hand clearly implies that she is guilty. Inasmuch as 
adultery is the most flagrant sin mentioned in the Bible, 
Jesus' great mercy on this occasion is wonderful. So far 
as we know the woman does not plead for mercy. This is 
certainly a type of mercy that would revolutionize society 
and the church if it were practiced. 

Jesus' mercy here reminds us of his prayer for his per- 



BIBLE IDEALS 131 



secutors at the cross, Stephen's prayer when he was stoned, 
and also Portia's famous plea for mercy in the Merchant of 
Venice. 

THE GOOD SHEPHERD 
John 10:10-18. 

In this famous chapter we have the ideal minister por- 
trayed. Jesus in the particular case is the minister, and he 
says, "I am the way." He is only a type of what he wishes 
all of his ministers to be. 

The antipodal points are clearly set forth. We pass from 
a mere careless hireling to the ideal pastor. 

Jesus states in the outset, "I am come that they might 
have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." 
He is a life-giver as every minister should be. He is there 
to see to it that his flock has more abundant life. He is 
their watchful shepherd and gives his very life for his 
sheep. The good minister really puts his whole life into his 
work, and truly lays down his life for his brethren. 

The hireling is set over in contrast to the good shepherd. 
The sheep do not belong to him. He sees the wolf coming, 
and flees, leaving the beast to devour and scatter the sheep. 
We are told that he flees because he is a hireling and cares 
not for the sheep. This monstrosity is certainly typical. 

Then Jesus in painful contrast to the hireling says, "I 
am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of 
mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the 
Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep." The intimate 
relation between Jesus and his sheep is in wholesome contrast 
to the relation between the hireling and the flock. The rela- 
tion of intimacy is as close, Jesus tells us, as it is between 
him and his Father. Beautiful and comforting indeed! 

Then the good shepherd speaks of his cherished idea of 
the unity of the fold even when all "other sheep" shall be 
brought into it« 



^32 BIBLE IDE ALS 

On the point of pastoral care this poem may be compared 
with Psalm 23, but the former excels the latter in idealiza- 
tion. The loving touch and deep devotion of the Christ for 
his people are more felt by the reader of John 10 than is the 
watchful providence in the Twenty-third Psalm. 

JESUS SCORING THE OUTWARD SHOW OF 
HOLINESS IN THE PHARISEES 

Luke 11:37-45. 

The most suggestive theme of this scripture is ExternaU 
versus Intervals, or Outward Show versus Inward Being, or 
Churchianity versus Christianity, or Formalism Run to Seed, 
as has been only too common down thru the ages. 

Jesus is invited to dine with a Pharisee. The latter is 
very much surprised to see the Master go in and eat without 
washing his hands. This is the occasion of some very plain 
remarks by the visitor. Says Jesus, "Ye Pharisees make 
clean the outside of the cup and the platter ; but your inward 
part is full of ravening and wickedness. * * * Woe unto 
you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of 
herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these 
ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 
W^oe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye love the uppermost seats in 
the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto 
you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are as graves 
which appear not and the men that walk over them are not 
aware of them.'* 

These woes are very suggestive. So many never pass be- 
yond the mint and rue to the judgment and love of God. 
And as Jesus suggests, so many do not pass beyond washing 
the external or outside to washing the internal. They continue 
counting their beads, performing some externals, and fail to 
penetrate to the deeper significance within. Is it any wonder 
that Jesus by one fell swoop, as it were, brushed aside the 
ritualism of Judaism and left only two externals; viz., the 



BIBLE IDEALS 133 



Lord's Supper and Baptism! And even these have become 
idols to many, for only too often the loving, forgiving, wor- 
shipful Christ is not seen thru them. 

This, to say the least, is certainly striking idealization of 
the internal as set over against the external. We might say 
here that there is a universal psychology for the former, but 
not for the latter. Any one knows that the spiritual signif- 
icance of Foot-washing and Saluting One Another with the 
Holy Kiss is universal, but the external expression of this 
spirit of humility and love has certainly changed with cus- 
tom and conditions, such as different footwear and the tobacco 
habit. 

The poem. Reality versus Appearance, may be compared 
with this story. Also the Jewish church of the New Testa- 
ment largely illustrates the emphasis of the external as set 
over against the internal of the church that Christ came to 
found. The Uncrowned King, by Harold Bell Wright, illus- 
trates the same great theme. 

GOOD SAMARITAN 
Luke 10:30-37. 

In this beautiful poem we have the great principle of the 
brotherhood of man highly idealized. A man is seen lying 
on the ground, wounded, bleeding, and half dead. It was 
not by chance that Jesus put a preacher first; by this means 
the acme of expectation of help is raised at once, only to be 
blasted. A priest of all men is nearest to God, nearer even 
than a woman. Surely he will help the poor needy creature 
lying there. But no, he selfishly passes by on the other 
side. Next to appear on the scene is a fellow Jew, a fellow 
church member. Again expectancy is raised, but the Levite 
simply looks at the pitiable object and moves on. Now at 
the greatest remove from the preacher we see a Samaritan 
approaching, despised by the Jew. Nothing can be expected 
from one of another race and religion, but contrary to all 
expectations the Samaritan takes pity on the poor wounded 



134 BIBLE IDEA LS 

man, goes to him, binds up his womids, pours in oil and wine, 
sets him on his own beast, brings him to an inn, and takes 
care of him. On the morrow the Samaritan pays the host 
two pence and tells him to take good care of the poor fellow, 
make out his bill, and when he returns he will pay it. Here 
we see brotherhood not limited by race, religion, or enmity. 
We are made to ascend from the hades of selfishness to the 
heaven of universal brotherhood, one of Jesus' most loved 
ideals. 

The striking feature about the idealization is that a priest 
who is next to God in this world, is put first; while a Samari- 
tan, a mongrel, a creature utterly detested by a Jew, is placed 
last. Jesus was undoubtedly a consummate artist in his illus- 
trations. 

The gospel of service is given an idealization here that 
universal brotherhood of man warrants. Lodges have grown 
phenomenally because of service rendered. The churches 
should return to the Pauline idea of service. Too many 
churches are like the picture of the priest and Levite. While 
the lodge is not in sight of the church in respect to spiritual 
well-being, it does sometimes put to shame the practical help- 
fulness of some churches. 

COVETOUSNESS 

Luke 12:13-21. 

Jesus in this scripture vividly idealizes one of the most 
universal traits of man. The covetous man is plainly shown 
to be a fool. 

The parable is preluded by a man asking Jesus to make 
his brother divide his inheritance with him. Christ refuses 
to act as judge in such small matters and tells the man to 
"beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in 
the abundance of the things which he possesses." How true 
this is, and how little is it considered. 

Jesus now illustrates his idea by means of a story. The 
lands of a certain rich man produced bountifully, so that he 



BIBLE IDE ALS 135 



had insufficient barn-room for his products. He says to him- 
self, "I will pull down my barns and build larger ones. Then 
will I say to my soul, 'Soul, thou hast ease, eat, drink, and be 
merry.' But God said unto him. Thou fool, this night thy 
soul shall be required of thee." The man seems almost as 
selfish and oblivious to the needs of his fellowman as a fat 
hog. 

Jesus now asks the question, "Whose shall these things 
(belonging to the rich man) be? So is he that layeth up 
treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." His words 
in another place are apropos: "What shall it profit a man if 
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" 

The suddenness of destruction and the awfulness of the 
term aplied to a covetous man, show the degree of idealization. 
In Colossians 3:5 covetousness is called a form of idolatry. 
"Mortify * * * covetousness which is a form of idolatry.'^ 

This story may be compared with Judas selling Christ, 
Joseph's brothers selling him for twenty pieces of silver, 
Achan's stealing, Gehazi's attempted deception, Ananias and 
Sapphira. The case made out against the covetous man 
renders it impossible for him ever to realize heaven. Even 
the case against the rich man is rather dark, tho he may 
rise above his riches and worship God. Selfishness, the all 
but universal sin of man, has nothing whatever in common 
with the completely unselfish Christ and the altruistic God; 
nor has it anything in common with Christianity. The Shy- 
locks, Macbeths, the Edmunds, the lagos, the Sauls, the Cains, 
and the Judases have always been looked upon as being best 
fitted to go on all-fours and grunt like their kind. No 
heaven, unless it be a hog-heaven, would suit them. In con- 
trast, the beautiful unselfishness of the sun, moon, stars and 
the rains represents the generous heart of God, 



136 BIBLE IDEALS 

THE PARABLE OF THE FRUITLESS FIG-TREE 

Luke 13:6-9. 

Fruit-hearing is the central idea of this little story. Ter- 
rible indeed is the penalty attached to non-fruit-bearing. 

A man has a fig tree in his vineyard, and has been coming 
for three years to gather fruit from it; but every year he 
finds none. He immediately orders the tree cut down, for 
it has been worthless long enough. Death is the awful punish- 
ment for inactivity which results in no fruit bearing. But 
the gardener, like one who loves and therefore is willing to 
give another trial, pleads that the tree may be spared one 
more year. He promises to dig around it, enrich it, and give 
it every opportunity to do something. 

This idealization is very high and very suggestive. No 
greater penalty than death can be assigned. And yet, after 
three years of trial and disappointment, the owner is willing 
to give the tree one more chance to do something. The Lord 
is certainly long-suffering with the indifferent, but the time 
will come when it will be too late. 

How different the idealization here from that of the 
Pauline work-brittle type or the Christ type. In almost as 
great contrast do we find the Chambered Nautilus and the 
young man in Excelsior. A parallel case is seen in the one- 
talent man who went and digged in the earth and hid his 
lord's money. The idealization, however, is higher in this 
case, for the latter's sentence seems like the crack of doom. 
"Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there 
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

JESUS HEALING THE INFIRM WOMAN 
Luke 13:10-17. 

True helpfulness versus blatant hypocrisy, is the theme 
of this story. The contrast brought out is painfiil, but not 
so very uncommon. The ruler of the synagogue was only a 
legalist who could not see beyond the external or letter of 
the law, as many cannot today. 



BIBLE IDEALS 137 

Jesus finds a poor afflicted woman in the synagogue on 
the Sabbath day. She has been suffering for eighteen years 
and is entirely bent over on herself, in the most horrible 
bondage. Jesus is moved with compassion for her, and im- 
mediately heals her. She, being relieved from her bondage, 
glorifies God; but the ruler of the synagogue has no more 
sympathy for the unfortunate woman than he has for a worm. 
He flies into a rage because Jesus has healed on the Sabbath 
day. He blurts out to the people: "There are six days 
in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and 
be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." Now Jesus knows 
that the pompous pious man cares nothing for the Sabbath 
day, and proceeds to prove it to him, and at the same time 
take some of the wind out of his sails. Says Jesus, "Thou 
hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his 
ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, 
whom Satan hath bound, lo these eighteen years, be loosed 
from this bond on the Sabbath day?" 

So great was the thunderbolt hurled at the ruler that he 
with all of the adversaries of Jesus looked ashamed, but 
the people rejoiced greatly in the victory. 

On the side of true helpfulness, this story calls up the 
woman with the issue of blood, the man at the Pool of 
Bethesda, and Jesus' myriad acts of service to help the 
other fellow. The dark side of the theme recalls the healing 
of the impotent man at the Feast of Purim, also other cases 
of healing on the Sabbath where the enraged Jews thought 
it nothing to plan to kill Jesus. Indeed is it well said of 
them, they gape at a gnat and swallow a camel. 

HUMILITY 

Matthew 18:1-7, Mark 9:33-37. 

As Jesus proceeds to Capernaum, the disciples drop back 
a little and dispute over who is to be greatest. Jesus chides 
them, first asking what they were talking about. Then he 



138 BIBLE IDEALS 

says, "If any man be first, he shall be last of all, and minis- 
ter of all." Only the road of service is the true way to 
greatness. 

He now takes a little child and sets him on his knee and 
says, "Except ye become as a little child, ye can in no wise 
enter into the kingdom of heaven." In other words, you 
must have the simple, never-doubting, and ever-trusting faith 
of a little child, you must have its humble spirit, purity, and 
true love, which ever abides, in order that you may enter into 
the kingdom. This ideal is about as high as even God can 
put it. It means something to be a Christian. 

Jesus now says, "Whosoever shall receive one of such 
little children in my name, receiveth me; but whoso shall 
cause one of these little ones who believe on me to stumble, 
it is better for him that a great millstone should be hanged 
about his neck, and that he should be cast into the depth of 
the sea." 

The idealization of humility here must have been a blow to 
the contentious disciples. The standard set up by Christ 
certainly makes any one think seriously. 

This should not have been anything new to the disciples, 
for Jesus had lived this high ideal before them continuously. 
Other instances of the idealization of humility, not of the 
Uriah Heep kind, are difficult to find. 

LOST SHEEP 
Matthew 18:10-14, Luke 15:1-7. 

This beautiful poem has been immortalized in song. Its 
theme is ^'Constancy of Love" a virtue that poets will never 
cease to sing about. 

The "ninety and nine" are safe, but 

"One is out on the mountains bleak and bare, 
Far from the tender shepherd's care." 

He leaves the fold and seeks the lost one, nor does he 
stop his search in the darkness and storm until he finds it. 



BIBLE IDEALS 139 

Picking it up tenderly in his arms^ with no word of rebuke, 
he carries it back to the fold. 

How different from the course usually taken, the course 
of indifference where no love is shown, and the one gone 
astray is allowed to die of neglect and be finally lost ! Even 
in this particular parable of the Lost Sheep, we see this spirit 
manifest in the scribes and Pharisees. The parable of the 
Great Supper has just been given in which we see these 
haughty impostors rejecting the invitation, and in their stead 
the lame, the halt, the poor, and the blind coming to the 
supper from the by-ways and hedges. It maddens the scribes 
and Pharisees to see Jesus so tender with sinners. They 
would not enter themselves and were trying to prevent others 
from entering. The incident produced the three parables; 
viz.. Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Prodigal Son. Jesus in 
a flashlight illustratiotfi shows the Pharisees how unlike God 
they are, for in this parable God goes out to seek the lost; 
he yearns for the lost. And in the Prodigal Son we see 
the sinner yearning for and seeking God. 

Poets have made this theme glorious. Longfellow in 
Evangeline, Tennyson in Enoch Arden and Geraint and Enid, 
Shakespeare in Winter's Tale and Cymbeline, have so ideal- 
ized constancy as to make it the brightest star in the heavens, 
but no one has given it the beauty and glory we find in its 
connection with God and Christ. The Bible gives us a per- 
fection of constancy unknown to secular poets. The Divine 
continues to lavish his gifts upon even the wicked, and un- 
stintingly to bless them while they live, altho there is no 
reciprocation. No mother's love to her own son was ever 
more constant than God's love for both the righteous and 
unrighteous. One way God has of ministering to us is thru 
physical means. If men could realize this and appreciate 
God's goodness to them, very different would be their treat- 
ment of him. 



140 BIBLE IDEALS 

PRODIGAL SON 

Luke 15:11-32. 

Many litterateurs, for example, Dickens, have regarded 
this poem as the most beautiful picture in literature In it 
we see repentance and mercy given a high degree of idealiza- 
tion. The poor, sinful boy goes down and down to the lowest 
depths. Selfish, exacting, unkind, he leaves home without 
bidding father, mother, or brother goodbye. Since a fool and 
his money soon part, so it is with him. He spends it in 
riotous living and even goes as low as anyone can get in this 
world; he descends into the hell of adultery with harlots. 
But when he is without money, without friends, without food 
except husks, with only hogs as his company, he comes to 
himself and silently determines to ascend out of the pit. He 
thinks of home, the plenty there even for the servants; he 
thinks of father and mother and his own sinful state. The 
manhood that remains in him asserts itself, and he says, "I 
will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him. Father, 
I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no 
more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy 
hired servants." The penitent is willing to do anything for 
the privilege of returning to father. 

The father sees him coming in the distance and bounds 
forward to meet him. Such a greeting for a moral repro- 
bate! The father covers his face with kisses, appears not 
even to listen to the poor boy's wail of how mean he has been, 
but orders the best robe put on him, a ring on his finger, shoes 
on his bare feet, and the fatted calf killed. The father and 
mother are in ecstasy over the return of the "lost, the dead." 

Just here a sudden thunder-cloud comes up and explodes. 
The unbrotherly brother in sullenness and anger comes around 
outside and asks, "What's the matter?" The good father 
comes out and tries to pacify him, but all to no purpose. The 
brother will not even recognize the Prodigal penitent as his 
brother, but says, "this thy son." 



BIBLE IDEALS 141 

Here in the brother we have unbrotherliness idealized. 
Altho he has been seemingly very obedient, it has been in 
the letter of the law; in the spirit he is disobedient. He is 
a type of only too many people who are obeying the letter, 
but their hearts are far from God. They can hardly realize 
that they are real backsliders. 

The repentance of the Prodigal is certainly complete. 
His surrender is as full as one can imagine. By it we are 
reminded of Guinevere, Leontes, Posthumous, Sir Launfal, 
The Ancient Mariner, Paul, Peter and the woman who washed 
Christ's feet with her tears. 

The mercy as well as the paternal love of the father 
is most highly idealized. On any other plane than Christian- 
ity, no mercy could be expected for such a reprobate. But 
this type of the merciful loving heavenly Father shows a 
mercy and a devotion which shine like the morning star. A 
more thrilling picture of love is nowhere else to be found; 
it mirrors the whole of the beautiful gospel of love. 

In this poem we are plunged to the depths of selfishness, 
ingratitude, unkindness, anger, spite, unbrotherliness, sinful 
pleasures and adultery with harlots. From these awful caverns 
we are raised to the paradise of unselfishness, gratitude, kind- 
ness, brotherliness, joy, mercy, and the deepest devotion of 
paternal love. 

RICH MAN AND LAZARUS 

Luke 16:19-31. 

The great principle of retribution, or reaping what we 
have sown, is the central idea in this poem. The embodiment 
or imagery is very vivid. 

We see four striking pictures in the poem. The first 
and last states of both Lazarus and the rich man are vividly 
contrasted. In the former the transition is from the direst 
need and penury to the highest joy of heavenly life, while 
in the latter we pass from highest worldly luxury and ease 
to the aiost torturous physical condition. 



142 BIBLE IDEALS 

The beggar, Lazarus, is "full of sores, desiring to be fed 
with the crumbs which fall from the rich man's table," even 
the "dogs came and licked his sores." The rich man seems 
to be unmindful of the unfortunate beggar. He is represented 
as "clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every 
day." After a time the poor beggar dies and is carried by 
the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man dies too, 
"and in hell he lifts up his eyes, being in torments, and sees 
Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." He cries 
aloud, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, 
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my 
tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." When too late, 
he could pray. Abraham replies, "Son, remember that you 
in your life time received good things, but Lazarus, evil 
things; now he is comforted and you are tormented. And 
besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf 
fixed, so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot ; 
neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." 
Seeing no help for his own wretched condition, the rich 
man at once becomes eloquent for his brothers. "I pray you. 
Father, that you send Lazarus to my father's house, for I 
have five brothers, that he may testify to them lest they 
also come into this place of torment." 

He becomes a good preacher when it is only too late. 
Again Abraham replies, "They have Moses and the prophets; 
let them hear them." But this does not still the concerned 
sufferer, for he replies, "Nay, father Abraham, but if one 
goes unto them from the dead, they will repent." Now father 
Abraham gives the ultimatum: "If they hear not Moses and 
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, tho one should 
rise from the dead." 

The contrasted pictures of the first and last conditions of 
the two men, are striking indeed. Dives went to his own 
place ; psychologically and rationally this could not be other- 
wise. Each man makes his own destiny. Utter selfishness could 
not enjoy absolute unselfishness, such as obtains in heaven. 



BIBLE IDEALS US 

The rich man does not plead for spiritual regeneration but for 
relief from physical pain. Probably in pleading for his 
brothers only he has no wider vision. 

This poem may be compared with Hamlet, Macbeth, 
King Lear, and a number of Shakespeare's plays where this 
great world principle of retribution is so dramatically worked 
out. Of course a secular writer does not dare to speak from 
an unseen and eternal shore. 

THE RAISING OF LAZARUS 
John 11:1-45. 

The purpose of this narrative is ( 1 ) to show the love of 
Jesus for man versus the love of the heads of the Jewish 
church for man, (2) to confirm the faith of the apostles 
and others, in his Messiahship, (3) love versus hate. 

We are swept from the hellish hatred of the Sanhedrin to 
the heaven of love, sj^mpathy, and helpfulness of Jesus. 

The favorite resting place of Jesus was the little home 
that graced Olivet's brow. One in that home had anointed 
Jesus with the costly spikenard and had wiped his feet with 
her hair. When the brother is near death's door the sisters, 
Martha and Mary, send for Jesus ; but he waits two days 
before starting. Jesus loves the family. Altho he was in 
danger of being stoned when he made his last trip to Judea, 
his love for Lazarus and the sisters is so great that he braves 
the threatening perils. 

Jesus tells the apostles that for the sake of strengthening 
their faith, he is glad that Lazarus is already dead. His 
remark surely indicates a waning faith on the part of the 
disciples at this time. 

On arriving in the neighborhood of Bethany, he is in- 
formed that Lazarus has been dead four days. The two 
sisters are heartbroken and largely faithless, so far as im- 
mediate help is concerned. Jesus' weeping, no doubt, is 
because of their lack of faith in him, as well as because of 
his sympathy for them. At the grave he prays to his Father 



14 1 BIBLE IDEALS 

and then commands in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 
Instantly the dead man comes forth bound in grave clothes. 
Only the imagination can paint the picture of the joyous 
manifestations of the two sisters. 

But we must now pass from this heaven of sympathy, 
love, and genuine helpfulness to the diabolism of the church's 
hate. Immediately the Sanhedrin assembled, and for this 
good deed they passed sentence of death on Jesus. This 
caused him to remain in hiding in Ephraim for two weeks 
before he came to Jerusalem for the last time when the sen- 
tence was actually carried out. 

The idealization here is one of the highest in Holy Writ. 
Jesus, in the face of the threatened stoning, knowing without 
doubt that his coming means his speedy death, goes undaunted 
to Bethany and performs the loving act for his friends. Love 
for his friends is clearly shown to be stronger than love for 
his own life. But the hatred, envy, and jealousy of the 
Jewish church are so great that we can think only of demons. 

We may compare this poem with the one on Forgiveness, 
where we saw a contrast of the human and divine love. But 
in this poem it is evident at a glance that the idealization is 
higher. In some respects the Confessional is like it, too. 

THE TEN LEPERS 
Luke 17:12-19. 

One of Shakespeare's great themes is idealized in this re- 
markable poem. Gratitude versus ingratitude is idealized 
more highly in one respect at least than it is by the immortal 
Shakespeare. 

The poem, brief as it is, raises us from the frigid zone 
of ingratitude to the torrid zone of gratitude. Delightful 
indeed is the transition. 

Jesus is entering a certain village when he is met by ten 
lepers. In their agony they cry out, "Jesus, Master, have 
mercy on us." Jesus' heart is touched, and he tells them to 
go and show themselves to the priest. But as they start off 



BIBLE IDEALS 145 

they perceive that their leprosy is gone. One overjoyed, 
returns and with a loud voice he glorifies God^ and falls down 
at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. This man is a Samaritan 
who would hardly be expected to render thanks to a Jew 
under any circumstances. Jesus being surprised that only one 
came back to thank him, says, "Were there not ten cleansed? 
Where are the other nine?" Is it possible that only this 
stranger will "give glory to God?" And Jesus said unto him, 
"Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole." The 
very men who are Jews and therefore are expected to be 
grateful, run off without ever showing the least gratitude. 

This idealization is remarkable in that the ratio of grati- 
tude to ingratitude is one to nine. Comparing this poem with 
King Lear, which has the same theme, we find a less ratio in 
Lear, it being there three to three. Goneril, Regan, and 
Edmund, who have everything for which to be thankful, are 
as ungrateful as demons ; but Cordelia, Edgar, and Kent, who 
have nothing to be grateful for, are so thankful that their 
actions sparkle with a touch of the divine. Inasmuch as 
leprosy is the most fearful of all diseases, the nine lepers are 
more to be condemned for their ingratitude than Goneril, 
Regan and Edmund. Turning to the other side of the theme, 
the Samaritan really had everything for which to be thankful, 
and therefore his gratitude is not highly idealized like that of 
Cordelia, Edgar, and Kent. The only thing that surprises 
us in his case is, that he being a Samaritan, should return 
and be so fulsome in his adoration of Christ. 

PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN 

Luke 18:9-14. 

The theme of this parable, according to Jesus himself, 
is self -righteousness. He tells us that the parable was spoken 
"unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were right- 
eous, and despised others." Jesus knew that this class would 
be large in the earth, and would therefore need this parable. 



146 BIBLE IDEALS 

The movement in the poem is from the acme of bragga- 
docio to complete self-renunciation. 

The picture is a contrast between a self-righteous church 
member and a sinner. The two go up into the temple to 
pray. The Pharisee stands and brags to God as follows: "God, 
I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, 
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice 
in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." Not one 
thing does he ask of the Lord. He is good enough and he 
certainly wants the Lord to know it. Now Jesus, to show 
how utterly bad this hypocrite is, takes even a publican, an 
out-and-out sinner, and sets him over against this self-right- 
eous braggart. But this sinner is indeed repentant, for he 
stands afar off and does not so much as lift up his eyes to 
heaven. Smiting his breast, he pleads, "God, be merciful to 
me a sinner." Says Jesus very emphatically, "I tell you, 
this man went down to his house justified rather than the 
other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; 
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." The re- 
pentant sinner pleads no good in himself, is completely un- 
selfish, throws himself completely on the mercies of God. 
Indeed are we assured that God never turns do w^ the broken 
and contrite heart. ^ 

Jesus' idealization here of a self-righteous spirit and also 
of a truly repentant one, is certainly very high. The con- 
trast is striking. One type may be compared with the self- 
centered Cain, or in secular literature with old Shylock; the 
other, with the Prodigal Son. Repentance in the latter is 
more highly idealized so far as we have them in the divine 
accounts. In secular literature Sir Launfal's repentance is 
more elaborately worked out than in the parable given here. 
My Last Duchess, by Browning, presents a picture of selfish- 
ness just as revolting as the Pharisee is. In Browning's 
portrait we see a very saint of heaven, as it were, set over 
in contrast with the hog she has had to live with. This wife 
has been kind to every one, but the selfish husband forbids 



BIBLE IDEALS 147 

her to smile on anyone except himself. Such a prohibition is 
too much for her. She pines away, and death soon relieves her 
of her burden. 

Wordsworth in Lines has given capital expression to the 
Pharisee's state of mind: 

"Be warned and know that pride, 
Howe'er disguised in its own majesty. 
Is littleness * * * 

The man whose eye 
Is ever on himself doth look on one. 
The least of Nature's works." 

RICH YOUNG RULER 
Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-23. 

Three themes may be given for this scripture: (1) The 
Deceitfulness of Sin, (2) Unwillingness to pay the price. 
Both ideas are highly idealized. (3) Riches, an idol claim- 
ing first affections. 

In this poem we are lifted from the ineffectiveness of the 
part to the effectiveness of the whole. Nothing short of com- 
plete surrender satisfies God. 

A very wealthy young man comes running to Jesus, no 
doubt feeling that his own life is about right. Eagerly he 
asks Jesus: "What good thing shall I do to inherit eternal 
life?" Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, and names 
over several to him. Exultingly the young man replies, 
"All these have I kept from my youth up. What lack I 
yet.'^" So much as to say, "I am a pretty good man, am I 
not.''^' Jesus looks on the young man and loves him. The 
Master sees in the very bottom of the ruler's heart an idol 
which is being worshipped. This idol Jesus recognizes as 
having the young man's first affections. Therefore Jesus says 
to him, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever 
thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure 
in heaven: and come, take up thy cross and follow me. And 



148 BIBLE IDEA LS 

when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was very 
rich." He has been deceived by a fairly good life, but Jesus' 
answer lays bare his sin. 

His demeanor completely changed; we see him going slowly 
away, in contrast to the way he approached Christ. Money 
has his heart; he is not willing to pay the price. Up to this 
time he has not realized that the sin of money worshipping, 
idolatry, has been deceiving him. The text seems to convey 
the idea that he thinks he is a good man. He is in part, but 
he learns that the call of self, or selfishness, is stronger than 
the call "of the poor and needy. His life except to close 
scrutiny seems almost like an ideal one. The young man's 
ideal tho is evidently too low. "All I need to do," thought 
he, "is to obey a few commands. Jesus will not require all 
of me." But this is just what he does demand, and nothing 
else will satisfy. 

This poem may be compared with the Vision of Sir Laun- 
fal, Paul's Conversion, and the Prodigal Son. Sir Launfal 
is led to the point of complete self-surrender, with all his 
pride, haughtiness, conceit, and selfishness gone, before he 
sees the Holy Grail or divine acceptance. Just so Paul and 
the Prodigal are led to the same kind of a surrender before 
the light dawns. In the Pearl of Great Price and the 
Treasure in a Field, the man was willing to pay the price, 
to give all. So it is in the Ancient Mariner. Tennyson 
clearly pictures to us the deceitfulness of sin in Merlin and 
Vivien. 

PRECIOUS OINTMENT 
Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9. 

This delightful bit of scripture has for its theme Love*» 
Sacrifice. We are reminded by it of Christ's greater sacrifice 
because of his greater love. 

The earnings of a lifetime, all she has in this world, are 
poured out by Mary in anointing her Lord. Rebuked by 
some of the disciples, she is defended by Jesus, who no doubt 



BIBLE IDEALS 149 

sees in the act a type of sacrifice and devotion that has shone 
like a star down thru the ages. 

Tho the hands that poured out the costly spikenard have 
long ago vanished into vapor, tho the perfume, which made 
redolent the atmosphere that day, has ceased to please the 
olfactories ; yet the beauty and unselfish devotion of Mary's 
deed have become brighter and brighter as the ages have 
rolled on. Indeed will it always be told with pleasure as 
Jesus prophesied at the time. 

In this we see the true nature of love. It has nothing 
that it will not freely, gladly give. It is more liberal, more 
sacrificing than anything else in the world. It finds its best 
expression in John 3:16. "God so loved the world that he 
gave.'* The divine gave all for us, sacrificed everything for 
us. One need have no fear as to whether or not he loves 
God, for love has but one nature; it gives, it blesses, it is 
devoted. 

This poem may be compared with Enoch Arden, who gave 
his life because he loved his wife and children. He would 
rather die than mar their happiness. Again we see the same 
spirit in both Imogen and Hermione, who were willing to bury 
their wounded pride because of their great love for their 
husbands. That love sacrifices and that this is its essential 
nature, are borne out by all Bible teaching and hundreds of 
examples in secular literature. 

MARRIAGE FEAST 

Matthew 22:1-14. 

Preparation is the theme idealized. Only too much in the 
world's life has this most essential factor in progress been 
overlooked or slighted. 

The poor fellow in the text has overlooked the one thing 
essential — he has failed to robe himself in a wedding garment, 
j ust as myriads of others have failed. But when he is publicly 
rebuked and cast out forever, he realizes that carelessness in 
regard to preparation has been his eternal downfall. 



150 BIBLE IDEA LS 

This may be compared on basis of idealization with the 
antediluvians of Noah's day. When too late they realized 
their fatal mistake. Like millions of others, if they could 
have it to do over again, they would obey. 

Poems in secular literature where preparation for the 
highest is emphasized, are Chambered Nautilus, Excelsior, 
For an Autograph, and The Ladder of St. Augustine. These 
four poems stimulate to the highest attainment. Preparation 
is seen as the one thing needful. This is not only true in the 
spiritual realm, but also in all other lines of action. 

"The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not attained by sudden flight; 
But they, while their companions slept. 
Were toiling upward in the night." 

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul. 
While the swift seasons roll." 

"Greatly begin! tho thou have time 
But for a line, be that sublime; 
Not failure, but low aim, is a crime." 

THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT 

Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34. 

The theme here is striking: God's claim of all of man's 
love. This renders his life unitary. 

A Pharisee lawyer asks Jesus what is the great command- 
ment. Jesus at once seizes the basal principle of all the law 
and the prophets, and replies, "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all they soul, and with 
all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first and 
great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 

If the idealizations given by Jesus were realized, it would 
heavenize earth. This world would blossom like the rose. 
The era of good feeling, real brotherhood, the fragrance of 



BIBLE IDEALS 151 

the benevolent affections would fill the land. A fulfillment 
of this commandment would eliminate all half-heartedness, 
indifference, and faith without works. 

To fulfill the requirements of these two commandments 
would necessitate a condition like the last state of the Ancient 
Mariner, Sir Launfal, the Prodigal Son, and the Apostle Paul. 
God takes a second place in no one's heart, his standards are 
the highest. One must make him first or claim no promises. 
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." 
The brotherhood of man will never come about until these 
commandments are obeyed. What a revolution would be 
wrought in human activities if each would regard his neighbor 
as himself! With a sigh we say, "This sounds like poetry." 
We can live in ideality what is so much denied us in reality. 

Other comparisons may be made with the Pearl of Greatest 
Price, The Treasure Hid in a Field, The Church as Bride of 
Jehovah in the Old Testament, and as the Bride of the Lamb 
in the New Testament. In Jesus we find the world's highest 
idealization of love. No mother was ever more of a friend, 
more of a helper, more of a lover. Jesus, after setting us 
the example of unselfish universal service, plainly says 
to us, "I am the way." God, the Father, is no less highly 
idealized as a lover, a friend, a helper, an inspirer. 

THE VIRGINS 
Matthew 25:1-14. 

Probably in no other parable is watchfulness more highly 
idealized. Its terrible opposite, indifference or carelessness, 
is set over against it to heighten the idea. The reader passes 
from woeful indifference to beautiful watchfulness. 

Ten virgins go out to meet the bridegroom^ While wait- 
ing they all go to sleep ; but suddenly a cry is heard : "Behold 
the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet him." The virgins 
trim their lamps, but five discover, perhaps for the first time, 
that they have no oil, and that their lamps are out. They 
are in consternation and beg oil of their sisters, but are told 



152 BIBLE IDEALS 

that it is now too late, that the oil cannot be lent for fear 
of running out themselves. The foolish virgins are sent to 
those who sell oil, that is, they are made to understand that 
there is something for them to do instead of lolling. "Work 
out your own salvation." While the indifferent, so-called 
church-members are gone out to purchase oil, the bridegroom 
arrives, and with the wise virgins passes in to the marriage 
feast, "and the door was shut." Finally the foolish virgins 
return and ask the Lord to open to them; but he replies, 
"Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch ye therefore, 
for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son 
of man cometh." They learn the lesson, when too late, that 
only those who meet the requirements, who do something, who 
watch, who are ever ready, who have the oil of the Spirit in 
their vessels, who have fully accepted the teachings of Christ 
and are practicing them in their lives, can possibly become one 
with the bridegroom, that is, unite with him in marriage. 

This poem, which shows the awful doom of the careless 
and the indifferent, and the glorious future of the watchful, 
the ready, the prepared, may be compared to the Lotos Eaters 
by Tennyson. These eaters of the enervating lotos plant 
have become entirely oblivious to all progress, to everything 
that costs one any effort; they have become the typically 
indifferent. On the other hand the parable may be compared 
with "Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?" This idealizes 
watchfulness and makes it as heavenly as does that beautiful 
poem of Isaiah's, entitled "Watchman, What of the Night?" 
where God requires the blood of sinners at the hand of man 
if he does not give them warning. 

TALENTS 

Matthew 25:14-36. 

In this parable we see activity, effort, service, personal 
stewardship, responsibility idealized. A great premium is 
put upon true service, while a severe penalty attaches to the 
sin of omission. 



BIBLE IDEALS 153 

From unfaithfulness we are swept into the clean atmosphere 
of faithfulness. The ideal pointed out is a life of service 
which naturally results from a real vital touch with God. 

The church is represented as being like a man traveling 
into a far country, who distributes his goods among his ser- 
vants according to their ability to manage them. To one 
servant he gives five talents ; to another, two ; to a third, one. 
The first man bestirs himself, invests the talents wisely, and 
doubles his investment. The second servant does likewise; 
but the third, who needs activity more than do the other two, 
goes and hides his lord's money. After a long time the day of 
reckoning comes. The worthy men are first to report. With 
a glad heart the five-talented servant reports his success in 
winning five more talents. His delighted lord, patting him 
on the shoulder, so to speak, says, "Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things; 
I will make thee ruler over many; enter thou into joy of thy 
lord." The same good report is made by the two-talented 
man with the same reward. Now the fellow who has not been 
doing anything, the unfaithful church member, comes up 
moodily and grumbles out, "Lord, I knew thee that thou 
art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, gathering 
where thou hast not strewn; and I was afraid and went and 
hid thy talent in the earth; lo, there thou hast that is thine." 
The answer of the Lord to the old complainer, is what might 
be expected. He is called a wicked and slothful servant, and 
told what he ought to have done. The talent is taken from 
him and given to the servant who already has ten talents. 
The final doom is: "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into 
outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

The fate of the unfaithful may seem fearful, but it is 
just; and so with the reward of the faithful. We are personal 
stewards of God's property, and God will call us to account 
for the way we have managed his goods — we cannot escape 
the sentence. The poem in secular literature which is called 



154 BIBLE IDEALS 



up by this memorable parable is Lowell's Autograph. Here 
he nerves us to dare the highest. 

"Greatly begin ! tho thou have time 
But for a line, be that sublime, — 
Not failure, but low aim, is crime." 

Excelsior, Chambered Nautilus and the Ladder of St. 
Augustine have the same ideal. 

CHRIST'S NEW COMMANDMENT 
Johnl5:ll-17. 

To love one another as he has loved us is not his exhorta- 
tion to Christians in this passage but his command. The 
force of this command and the fact that Christ means it fail, 
as a rule, to possess or take hold of the minds of church 
members. 

Jesus tells his disciples that he has told them everything 
in order that their joy may be full. He, like a friend, has 
not kept anything back from them. He now says, "This is 
my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved 
you." Then immediately he shows them how great that should 
be. The very next verse is: "Greater love hath no man 
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Then 
to clinch this he says, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever 
I command you." In another place he defines lovet "This 
is love, that ye keep my commandments." Near the close of 
this poem in which love is so highly idealized, he connects 
love with fruit-bearing, showing that the former produces 
the latter. 

No higher idealization of love is possible, for no one can 
do more than lay down his life for his enemy. This Jesus did. 
He ever practiced what he preached, thus re-enforcing his 
preaching in thunder tones of action. It is altogether impos- 
sible to misunderstand Jesus' meaning here, he having com- 
manded us to love as he has loved, and having set us the 



BIBLE IDEALS 155 

example. Nothing but the divine in man can attain to such 
divine commands and standards. 

We see the apostles reaching this divine standard after 
Pentecost. Paul lived it and taught others to do the same. 
Scintillations of it flash forth in the characters of Evangeline^ 
My Last Duchess, Desdemona, Imogen, Hermione, Enid, Hero, 
and Mariana. 

CONSOLATION 
John 14:1-5. 

This brief bit of scripture is one of the most noted of New 
Testament poems. Consolation is given an idealization that 
renders it appropriate for funerals and all occasions where it 
is needed. 

Jesus is about to leave his disciples; it is the evening 
before his death. Tenderly he says to them: "Let not your 
heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me." 
He would not have them grieving over his departure. He 
continues: "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it 
were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for 
you, — that where I am, there ye may be also." So much as 
to say, "I am going away to prepare a paradise for you, 
and some day I will come for you, because I want you ever 
with me." Just as a mother talks to her child or a lover to 
a sweetheart, so Jesus talks to his children. He desires us to 
be near him. If earth is so filled with beauty, what must 
heaven be with Jesus as its maker ! Humanly speaking, we 
know what mansions are, but from a divine standpoint, what 
must they be? "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
hath it entered into the heart of man what God hath prepared 
for them that love him." All the oratory, all the rhetoric, all 
the prophecy, all the poetry of God's book, fail to give an 
adequate conception of the glories of the Land of Pure Delight. 

The idealization of consolation nowhere else in the Bible 
is greater. The pictures permit of expansion ad libitum, and 
they are just such images as set the troubled soul at rest. 



156 BIBLE IDEALS 

The Twenty-third Psalm may be compared with this poem. 
Each has great consolation for man. 

THE LAST JUDGMENT 
Matthew 25:31-46. 

The basis of this judgment seems to be service as given 
by the Savior. It is certainly suggestive. 

The imagery of this story is on a grand scale. We see 
all the nations of the earth assembled; the righteous on one 
side, and the unrighteous on the other. In the midst of the 
unnumberable millions stands the Son of Man as judge To 
the righteous he says, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 
herit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of 
the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; 
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and 
ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick and 
ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." The 
righteous are very much surprised to hear the Master tell 
them of such menial service to him; but he replies, "Inasmuch 
as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me." The striking idealization consists in 
the fact that service to the least member of the kingdom is 
service done to Christ. It should be noticed too that Jesus 
mentions no hig things that his followers have done, big things 
as the world goes; just simply feeding the hungry, clothing 
the naked, taking in the stranger, visiting the sick and those 
in prison. 

The Master now turns to the unrighteous and pronounces 
their doom, for they have not done these things unto him. In 
great surprise they ask when they have had an opportunity 
to do such service to him. Again he says, "Inasmuch as 
ye have not done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye 
have not done it unto me." 

Probably the Last Judgment is without a parallel, for the 
spectacle is almost unequalled in scripture; while the judg- 



BIBLE IDEALS 157 

ment, being based on service to the least of his followers^ 
is totally different from worldly on-going. 

This poem cries in thunder-tones "service^ service, serv- 
ice!" The religion of the loving heart and helping hand is 
Christianity. Churchianity may do to make a show with, but 
it will never pass at the judgment bar of God. 

LORD'S SUPPER 
Matthew 26:14-30, Mark 14:12-25, Luke 22:7-20. 

The Lord's Supper is the world's greatest memorial. The 
Fourth of July commemorates our national freedom; but this 
memorial celebrates world freedom. The rainbow is a mem- 
orial in many colors, guaranteeing temporal safety from 
destruction by flood; the Lord's Supper gives a warrant for 
eternal safety. Its theme is A Feast of Love or Devotion. 

Jesus, after he had performed the humble service of wash- 
ing the disciples' feet, thus teaching one of the most needed 
lessons of life, that of humility, institutes the Lord's Supper. 
Prayerfully, reverently, the disciples partake of these uni- 
versal significant emblems. The ceremony is made very simple 
by Jesus, no complexity entering into it. Jesus simply 
blesses each of the emblems and asks all of the disciples to 
partake of them in order. 

Jesus on the morrow is going away from the Twelve and 
desires to institute a memorial by which they may remember 
him. He asks them to do this, telling them that "as oft as 
they do it they show forth his death until he come." In sor- 
row they meet with their loved Master, and tenderly have 
their last communion with him before his Trial. 

In no memorial or Christian exercise, is there a more 
glowing picture of sacrifice and love for man, nor is the soul 
more stirred. Jesus giving his life on Calvary, the innocent 
for the guilty, is the world's masterpiece of love. One, in 
approaching such a scene and presuming to commune with such 
a pure being, feels that he must be in entire harmony with 
God. No unforgiveness can be harbored in the soul, or any 



158 BIBLE IDEALS 

other sin which would cause the communicant to eat damna- 
tion to his soul. Not making it a feast of love or devotion, 
but observing it as a kind of formality, has caused many, 
very many to become weak as the Bible so clearly teaches. 

JOHN 17. 

This is often called the Lord's Prayer, and perhaps de- 
serves this name more than the one so universally known as 
his prayer. The great and inspiring theme is union. 

The point intended to be reached in the poem is union; 
the opposite point is division. 

This is the poem of the universe, and is a masterpiece 
of organization. The Savior is about to leave earth. It 
seems but one thought engrosses his mind on the evening 
before his crucifixion and that is the oneness of his people. 
Usually a person prays for more than one thing; but not so 
here. How earnestly he prays, and repeats the petition five 
times, for the unity of his people, giving the reason twice 
"that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." The 
implication is that the world will never, while the church is 
divided, believe on him as the Christ, the Messiah. 

Notice the sublime words of Christ more fully. "That 
they all may be one; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in 
thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may 
believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou 
gavest me I have given them; that they may be one even as 
we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be 
niade perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou 
hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." 
A mother could not plead more passionately for children than 
the loving Savior pleads with his dying breath for the unity 
of his people. He pleads for a close union, one that binds 
like the love obtaining between him and his Father. He also 
shows that perfection can come about only by such a union. 
One of the most consoling features of the prayer is where 



BIBLE IDEALS 159 



he tells us that the Father will love us as much as He loves 
Him. 

When vre think of the salvation of the world and the 
perfection of God's people hanging on Christian union, we 
see an idealization beyond which it is impossible to go. The 
setting of this prayer, being on the eve of his betrayal, gives 
it only a greater splendor. 

On basis of idealization we fail to find a poem in secular 
literature with which to compare it favorably. The .song. 
Onward, Christian Soldiers, has a similar sentiment but not 
the sublime imagery and idealization. "One in hope and 
doctrine, one in charity," is certainly a sublime sentiment. 

PARABLE OF THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN 
Mark 12:1-12, Matthew 21:33-46, Luke 20:9-18. 

The theme of this parable is selfishness, the curse of the 
race. Perhaps the form of selfishness called greed would 
more nearly fit the treatment. Jesus in this parable gives 
the Jews their own photograph. 

A householder elaborately fits up a vineyard, lets it out 
to husbandmen, and goes into a far country. At the proper 
season he sends his servants to receive the fruits of the vine- 
yard. But the husbandmen beat some of them, kill others 
and stone the rest. Again servants are sent, with a like 
result. At last the lord of the vineyard sends his only son. 
When the greedy husbandmen see him, they say, "This is 
the heir; come, let us kill him and seize upon his inheritance. 
And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and 
slew him." The Jews answer correctly as to what ought to 
be done with such wicked men. But after Jesus refers to the 
stone which the builders rejected, he plainly tells them, "The 
Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a 
nation bringing forth fruits thereof." When the Pharisees 
perceive clearly what Jesus means, they attempt to lay hands 
on him but fear the multitude. 

The idealization here is rather striking, for if honor is 



160 BIBLE IDEALS 

not found in the church where can it be found? Of all places 
in the world we should most expect to find it here. Instead 
of honor we find grossest covetousness, and even murder. 
The Jewish church is not the only one that has rotted in 
its priesthood. No wonder the case against the rich man is 
made out so hard. No wonder we hear these words, "The 
love of money is the root of all evil." Selfishness, covet- 
ousness, pride, and worldliness are threatening to paralyze 
the church, says John R. Mott, the world-traveler. If the 
church would "seek first the kingdom of God" instead of 
reversing it and seeking first "all other things," the kingdoms 
of this world would soon become the kingdoms of our Lord 
and his Christ. Man shows clearly by his actions what he 
most loves. Almighty dollar is too much the great god of 
the world. 

THE PARABLE OF THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES 

John 15:1-10. 

Complete dependence upon Christ for life, is the theme 
of this well-known story. The figure is very vivid and sug- 
gestive. 

Jesus says he is the vine and his followers are the 
branches. Just as a natural branch detached from the vine 
dies, so if a Christian becomes detached from Christ thru dis- 
obedience he dies spiritually. Jesus makes it very clear, too, 
that there must be an abiding of the branch in the vine and 
vice versa, for fruit bearing to result. Whenever this connec- 
tion is broken thru disobedience, then, as Jesus says, we can 
do nothing ; we are powerless ; we are dead. 

The idealization in this story is high, for Jesus clearly 
shows by his illustration that the Christian is totally 
dependent upon him for life. No other leeway is given. The 
sole means of keeping up this vital connection with Jesus 
is obedience. 



BIBLE IDEALS 161 

PETER'S DENIAL 
Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-62. 

The theme is doubt. It is given an idealization rarely 
met with in literature. We are plunged to an unexpected 
depth and are not brought back until later on in the gospel 
story. 

This preacher has been with Jesus three years, has seen 
his wonderful miracles and more wonderful life, has heard 
God commending his son at his baptism, has been the spokes- 
man of the apostles, and was the first to confess him as 
Lord; yet in an hour of danger, when Peter most is needed, 
we hear him swearing and lying, saying he does not know 
Jesus, — this man who a little while before had said, "The 
all else forsake thee, yet will not I." Considering the back- 
ground of this denial and doubt, it seems colossal. It plainly 
shows that Peter feared man more than he did God, and that 
Peter has not beheld Jesus with that vision which he possessed 
after Pentecost. 

This may be compared with John the Baptist doubting 
Christ. The latter, too, had baptized Jesus and had heard the 
words of God proclaiming him as the Christ; yet in a dark 
hour doubt set in, faith had begun to waver. Probably con- 
sidering all the circumstances, Peter's doubt is more highly 
idealized. 

Later on when Peter repents of his base denial, and is 
lovingly welcomed by Christ after his resurrection, he becomes 
one of the most devoted Christians of the world. He never 
forgot this incident and Jesus' kind treatment. He became 
as bold as a martyr in Jesus' defense, and was glad only 
to suffer for Christ's sake. 

THE BETRAYAL 

Matthew 26:1-5, 14-16, 46-47, Mark 14:1, 2, 10, 11, 4S-52. 

Luke 22:1-6, 41-46. 

Treachery is the awful theme of these and other related 



162 BIBLE IDEA LS 

scriptures. No worse idea ever found place in the heart of 
a demon. 

Judas is an honored man of the Twelve, the treasurer of 
the company. He must have been an average disciple, or 
he would not have been so trusted. He has been in the blaze 
of the gospel and the wonder of miracles for three years. 
Judas himself has been out preaching and doing wonders 
in Jesus' name. With every evidence of Jesus' divinity Judas 
begins to slip, for Jesus calls him a devil a year before his 
fall. No doubt, he is stung by Jesus' evident knowledge 
of his guilt. Later when the sop is given him, he yields to 
anger at once and determines to do the deed at the earliest. 
His thoughts being evil, he can not bear the searchlight of 
Jesus' scrutiny. He betrays Jesus to his worst enemies for 
thirty pieces of silver, the price of an ordinary slave. In 
betraying him he leads a dastardly company by night and 
gives the sign, an effusive kiss, grossly misusing the most 
affectionate form of greeting. 

Jesus goes forward and asks the armed company whom 
they are seeking. When he tells them that he is Jesus, they 
fall as dead men to the earth. They could not stand for 
the moment in the presence of his divinity. 

Peter attempts to defend his Lord with his sword, but 
is made to put it up. Jesus touches Malchus* ear that has 
been cut off by Peter, and it instantly is replaced. Then all 
the disciples flee for their lives. 

When Judas comes to himself and sees, as he says, that 
he has betrayed innocent blood, he is unable to stand it; 
therefore he goes out and hangs himself. 

The idealization of treachery is very high here, because 
of the close and confidential relations between Judas and 
Christ for at least two years, because of the fact that he was 
one of Jesus* chosen preachers, and furthermore because Jesus 
was and is the light of the world, its maker, its life-giver, 
its inspiration, the central figure in all history, the inspiration 
of all man's greatest achievements, the one in whose power 



BIBLE IDEALS 163 

rest the destinies of all beings in the universe. Such con- 
siderations show how colossal was Judas' treachery. 

Both Biblical and secular literature as well as history 
and experience are filled with examples of this most heart- 
rending of all sins. There come trooping up to our mind 
Cain, Jacob, Joseph's brothers, Saul, David in his adultery, 
Macbeth, Richard III, Claudius, Edmund, Caesar's Conspir- 
ators, lago, Aufidius, Proteus, Oliver, Don Jon, Wolsey, 
Geraldine, Vivien, the priest in the Confessional, Benedict 
Arnold, Aaron Burr, and scores of others of equal note. The 
awfulness of the sin and the commonness of it are perhaps 
the reasons for it being made a type so often in the world's 
literature. 

THE TRIAL OF CHRIST 

Many have been the trial scenes of earth, but none so 
noted as this one in which the world's destiny was being 
weighed in the balance. The theme of this bit of scripture 
is. Christian Bearing Up Under Fire. It may be considered, 
too, as Patience in Tribulation, or one may view it as Supreme 
Courage. 

In the scene we are horrified by the diabolism of the 
so-called church leaders; but on the other hand we are car- 
ried to the very throne of God by the Godlike actions of 
Christ while under false fire. 

The church leaders jealous of Jesus' influence arrest him 
by means of treachery, their stock in trade, and, give him 
several false trials as do also the Roman authorities. These 
bitter Jews hire false accusers and conduct themselves as imps 
of Satan. Indeed has the Jewish church fallen into the 
hands of fiends; any divine light which it may have had, is 
now extinguished. Empty formalism, death-dealing in its ap- 
plication, is all that remains. Jesus, in the face of their base 
charges and furious actions, maintains the demeanor of a 
God. Tho slapped, spit upon, mocked, and even scourged 
until he is blood from the s&le of his feet to the crown of 



164 BIBLEIDEALS 



his head, he remains calm, usually silent, never answering 
except to rightful authority. His bearing thru all the fearful 
ordeal, when we know that at any time he could have exter- 
minated the earth, is marvelous. He certainly verified his 
own teaching of returning good for evil and of turning the 
other cheek. 

The Trial Scene stands without parallel in literature 
when we take into consideration the nature of the one tried, 
and the world consequences which have been the outcome of 
this trial. Judaism unconsciously was on trial for its life, 
and was found wanting; a new religion, Christianity, was 
established ; the world was redeemed, and a new and universal 
era of righteousness was established. The new religion was to 
be worldwide in its teachings and influence. In this trial, 
too, Christ is seen as without a parallel in his Godlike bearing 
under such hot fire. Patience in Tribulation is given its best 
type. The Trial Scene in The Merchant of Venice and the 
Warren Hastings Trial dwindle into insignificance when com- 
pared with this world-renowned Trial. 

GETHSEMANE AND CALVARY 
Matthew 26:37-46, Mark 14:33-42, Luke 12:41-46. 

In this sublimest of all poems we see the power of love 
given the highest known idealization, also faith is very highly 
idealized. 

Jesus voluntarily goes into the garden, knowing he is to 
be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He prostrates him- 
self on the earth and sweats "as it were great drops of blood." 
Such suffering, such agony for even his enemies ! For man's 
sake, because of his great love for man, he endures this 
torture. On Calvary he hangs for six hours, the innocent 
for the guilty. The sun refuses to shine on such a scene, 
and the earth shakes as a strong man in agony, the rocks 
being rent from the mountain side. He pours out every drop 
of his blood for man. This sacrifice is the world's turning 






BIBLE IDEALS 165 

point. Such an exhibition of love had never been known. 
Somehow it has conquered continents for righteousness. 

Calvary is the most sacred of mountains. Its baptism 
of blood and agony has given it a moral grandeur, an intense 
glory above all other mountains. The base of this mountain 
is on the earth, but its top is in the third heaven. The angels 
fly about it, but have never scaled its dazzling height. 

This is the mount of suffering, the mount of power, the 
mount of victory thru faith and love. Seven hundred millions 
today tell the story of Jesus' power of love. Even his greatest 
enemies melt before this love. Compared with Geraint and 
Enid, Gareth and Lynette, Leontes and Imogen, the love 
shown on Calvary seems like the sun put by the side of a 
candle, for in each of these cases it is a wife, husband, or 
sweetheart winning a companion; this is natural. But Jesus 
winning continents of enemies to himself is God-like. 

RESURRECTION 
Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-11, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-18. 

The theme of this sublime Gospel poem is victory over 
death, or conquest of death, or life by death. In any case 
death is swallowed up in victory, in life, in rising, in hope. 
The terror to all life is itself destroyed. 

"Oh death, where is thy sting? 
Oh grave, where is thy victory }" 

We see the almost absolute security of the sepulcher made 
so by sixty-four heavily armed Roman soldiers. They fade 
away like dew before the morning sun, as the angel descends 
and strikes them with terror, causing them to fall as dead 
men before his august presence. The ease of rising from 
the dead or thwarting man's actions is indeed absolute. Thus 
we pass from the seeming absolute of man to the very absolute 
of God. 

In this poem is pictured a rising from sorrow to joy, from 
despair to hope, from death to life. 



166 BIBLE IDEA LS 

Science is silent before the open grave. It knows not. 
It does not try to know. It has to do with things, and such 
ever change. Science sees no further than the clods of the 
valley. 

The philosopher, Socrates, says, "I think I see the golden 
islands, but, oh, that we had a stouter vessel, or a 
surer word." Plato, Kant, and other philosophers lift the 
veil a little and give glimpses. 

But Holy Writ speaks in positive tones and gives us the 
"Stouter vessel, the surer word," of faith. "O death, where 
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" That Jesus 
rose from the dead is the best proved event in history. The 
marvelous immediate change in the apostles, their death by 
martyrdom, the devoted life and death of Paul, Christ's un- 
disputed appearances to more than six hundred people, with 
dozens of other incontrovertible proofs of the risen Savior, 
speak in thunder tones of resurrection hope. Then life would 
be a mockery without immortality. Man's divine equipment, 
too, argues for life everlasting. Does any really great man 
give out a thousandth part of his ideal self? Hugo said he 
does not. The Bible teaches that God is an economist, there- 
fore the other nine hundred and ninety-nine parts will not 
be wasted. This poem stands without a parallel in secular 
literature, for man does not dare to sail a vessel on the eternal 
sea. 

THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES 
John 21:1-14. 

The thought idealized in this story is the human versus the 
divine. 

Seven skilled fishermen have been fishing all night, the 
very time when fish bite best; yet they have not caught a fish. 
A Stranger appears on the shore of the lake and tells them 
to cast their net on the other side of the boat. Tho this is 
a young inexperienced fisherman who gives this command, the 
old fishermen obey and are at once astonished by a draught 



BIBLE IDEALS 167 

too great to lift into the boat. John says to Peter, "It is 
the Lord." Peter is so delighted and so eager to see the 
Master whom he has denied that he leaps into the sea and 
makes for the land. Other disciples come in little boats and 
help to get the draught to land. A fire is burning on the 
shore, and fish are broiled, and the disciples enjoy a never- 
to-be-forgotten breakfast with the risen Lord. It is during 
this breakfast that Peter is almost killed by the exceeding 
kindness of Jesus whom he has so recently denied. Putting 
his arm around him, Jesus says, "Peter, do you love me? 
Feed my sheep." This is repeated three times in almost the 
same words, thus creating such an impression in Peter's mind 
as to make him one of the greatest lovers of Christ who has 
ever lived. The Godlike treatment of Peter by Christ is a 
lesson in thunder tones, indicating clearly the way that all 
family and church differences should be settled. Jesus says, "I 
am the way." When will man learn and practice the Jesus 
way? 

Human weakness and divine power are set in strong 
contrast in this story. Man unaided by God, can do nothing. 
If man will stop a moment and think, he will see that this 
is literally true in the material world, God furnishing every 
law of the universe, whether it be in the mental or physical 
realm. It is just as true in the spiritual realm, and should 
be considered so. Thru obedience to the divine commands, 
putting ourselves in line with the divine, spiritual power 
comes to us. The story also shows the infinitesimally small 
treatment of Christ by Peter, and the Godlike love of Christ 
in return. 

One is reminded of the draught of fishes secured when 
the disciples were told by Christ to launch out into the deep 
and let down their nets. Pentecost, Solomon's Porch, and 
in short the whole apostolic revival are suggested by this 
story. The stories in the Old Testament that have the same 
teaching are Gideon's band, Isaiah and Sennacherib, many of 
David's victories, Deborah's victory, Moses* triumphs, the 



16_8 BIBLE IDEALS 

victories of Abraham^ Jacobs Joseph^ Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, 
and Daniel. 

RESPONSIBILITY OF SPEECH 
James 3:1-13. 

James here idealizes responsibility in speech in an almost 
inconceivable way, for he first constructs what seems an 
impossibility and then proceeds to hold man responsible for 
not overcoming even an impossibility. 

We can bridle horses and guide them ; we can steer ships ; 
we can tame every kind of bird and beast, but the tongue 
can no man guide or tame. The tongue boasteth great things, 
is a fire, a world of iniquity, defiles the whole body, sets 
on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire of hell. It is 
a restless evil, full of deadly poison. It both blesses and 
curses. 

How can one infer anything but uncontroUability from 
such a description of the tongue's activities? Yet James 
says, "My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth 
the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water 
and bitter.^ Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a 
vine, figs. ^ Neither can salt water yield sweet." These are 
searching questions, they grip us. We must conclude that 
notwithstanding the seeming impossibility, that if a man 
"stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to 
bridle the whole body also." 

The responsibility of speech has brought forth some of 
the strongest passages in literature, but nowhere else do 
we find it given such an adequate expression as in James. 
Some of the passages from other literature may here be 
given: 

1. Let thy word be one. 

2. Be swift to hear, and with patience make thine answer. 

3. Glory and dishonor are in talk; and the tongue of a 
man is his fall. 

4*. Curse the whisperer and double-tongued. 



BIBLE IDEALS 169 

5. The stroke of a whip maketh a mark in the flesh; 
but the stroke of a tongue will break the bones. 

THE MASK OF LIFE 

Pharisee has come to mean a mask; Pharisaical is synon- 
ymous with hypocritical. Of all things despicable to Christ, 
wearing a mask is the worst. At one time he turned his 
batteries loose on the practice, and never stopped until he 
had fired seven rounds. 

He plainly shows the Pharisees that he sees thru their 
masks. He tells them they like to make long prayers on the 
street corners to be seen of men. He further shows them 
that they are very careful about making the outside of the 
platter clean but care nothing for the internal. They also 
tithe mint, rue, and all manner of herbs, but judgment and 
love of God are ignored. It is nothing for them to kill Christ, 
but it is awful for him to cure a sick man on the Sabbath day. 
They do not hesitate to pull the cow or sheep out of the 
sinkhole on the Sabbath, but on this day for an invalid of 
thirty-eight years' standing to be healed, it is a criminal 
offense punishable with death. These saints think it all right 
to devour widows and grind the poor. Jesus best portrays 
them when he says they are whited sepulchers, and within 
they are full of dead men's bones. 

Throughout the gospels we find the Pharisees wearing the 
mask, making great pretense to religion when it is only 
Churchianity. In contrast we are delighted to see reality in 
Christ and his true followers. 

We are reminded of Henry VIII, whose theme is the mask 
of life, where Wolsey and Henry pose as great saints. When 
the masks are torn off we see horrible monsters, especially 
in Wolsey. The life within and the life without receive 
perhaps their highest idealization here. The two phases of 
the life of Catherine, Wolsey, and Henry are just the oppo- 
site and are very striking. 



170 BIBLE IDEALS 

lago, Richard III, Edmund, Proteus, Polonius, Claudius, 
Macbeth, Oliver, all wear the mask; and these are not the 
only people throughout the ages who have worn this hypo- 
critical instrument of concealment. 

THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF LOVE 

The theme which is so highly idealized in Tennyson's 
Maud finds a high idealization in the Gospels and Acts. We 
see John first a Boanerges, a son of thunder, so stormy is he. 
On one occasion he desires to have fire called down from 
heaven and destroy the Samaritans who would not receive 
Jesus in their midst. But when love possesses his soul, he 
becomes the most loving of men, a spirit like the Christ, so 
trustworthy and kind that Jesus leaves his own mother in 
his hands. All thru his five books his one overpowering, all- 
persuading theme is love. 

Peter by nature is cyclonic, almost incapable of self-con- 
trol. Even after he becomes a Christian he swears and lies 
shamefully, but when fully possessed on the Day of Pentecost, 
(this added to Jesus' loving treatment of him after his fall), 
he becomes a new man. Kindness, love, forgiveness, every 
form of righteousness characterize his actions. He could not 
do enough for Christ; indeed was he a transformed being. 

Paul is one of the most remarkable examples of love's 
transformations. Burning with hatred against the Christians, 
whipping, imprisoning, torturing, and killing them, he is 
stricken down by the Lover of all the world. So great now 
becomes the transforming power of love in his life that he 
soon grows to be the world's greatest lover, the one who 
shows it the most. He becomes the bishop of two continents 
and seems to have a burning desire to bring the whole world 
to Christ by his own efforts. No more remarkable transforma- 
tion has ever been known. Something happens when one 
wheels into line with the Divine. 

Love is the world's panacea, to sweeten it, to take the 
poison of sin out, to blot out the hell of hate, envy, jealousy, 



BIBLE IDEA LS 171 

wrath, malice^ and other malformations, and to usher in the 
heaven of kindness, trust, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, 
patience, and all normal actions. Love is the heaven of life, 
and if any man have it, the same is known of him. 

JESUS AS THE IDEAL OF ALL IDEALS 

1. Jesus the Ideal of Service. 

Jesus is the world's greatest type of service. We see 
him ever about his Father's business. He hardly takes time 
to eat or rest. To both friends and foes he extends a helping 
hand, loosing tied tongues, unstopping deaf ears, opening 
blind eyes, causing the lame to walk, curing old chronic cases 
of twelve, eighteen, and thirty-eight years' standing, bidding 
leprosy and dropsy depart, raising the dead, feeding the 
hungry, cheering up the depressed, comforting the sorrowing, 
binding up the broken hearts, freeing the captives, weeping 
over the city that crucified him, blessing the man who lied 
and swore about him, and preaching the gospel to the poor. 
From the most menial service, as washing the disciples' feet, 
to the highest service of the church, he manifests the same 
beautiful spirit. Indeed is it his meat and drink to do the 
will of his Father in heaven. He seems never to think of 
himself, but always of the other fellow. 

No idealization of service as in Herve Reil, Gareth and 
Lynette, or even Arthur in the Idylls of the King, compares 
with Jesus as an ideal of service. To find an approach to him 
we must go to John and Paul. These men wrote their names 
high by their unselfish service. 

2. Jesus an Ideal of Perfect Trust. 

His trust in his Father, as shown at Lazarus' grave, 
Gethsemane and Mount Calvary, and a hundred other trying 
situations, is perfect. His trust is constant, never intermit- 
tent. 

Jesus' trust in man is marvelous, for we see him committing 
to unlearned fishermen and men of similar stamp, the gigantic 



m BIBLE IDEALS 

undertaking of saving the world. He asks them to do it 
without any assessment of taxes, and with only one weapon 
and that is love. Again as a basis for trust Jesus is worthy of 
all confidence, for he above all beings has shown to the full 
his great love for men. Then no one, has ever pointed out a 
blemish in his life. Every thing about it inspires confidence. 
In the idealization of perfect trust we find no character 
V equal to him, for no one ever trusted so much ; or has been 
trusted so much, or by so many people. Some of the great 
Biblical heroes and heroines, as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, 
Noah, Gideon, Deborah, Samuel, Joshua, Elijah, Jeremiah, 
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Ezekiel, Isaiah, 
John, Stephen, and Paul, are very close kin to Christ in the 
matter of faith. Their faith is marvelous, Godlike. Browning 
in many of his poems, as for instance. Child Roland to the 
Dark Tower Came, exercises a sublime degree of faith. A 
God-consciousness pervades many of his poems which makes 
Browning's readers feel that they are, as it were, in the very 
presence of the Divine. 

3. Jesus an Ideal of Hope. 

He is man's basis of hope, for he has fulfilled all of his 
promises thus far. No one ever meets his conditions fully 
but that he finds perfect fulfillment. Then Jesus is the same 
"yesterday, today, and forever." Since he has met every 
promise, man believes he will continue to do so, and for this 
reason his hope is steady, unwavering. 

This hope that keeps the soul from sinking into despair is 
beautifully expressed in The Fringed Gentian and Crossing 
the Bar. 

4. Jesus as an Ideal of Constancy of Love. 

One of Jesus' best pictures of constancy is the Prodigal 
Son. This boy is an extreme case, but still the love of the 
Father remains constant. No man was ever lied about more 
than was Jesus, yet his love remained unchangeable. He 
was hounded and persecuted, driven from place to place until 



BIBLE IDEALS 173 

his star went down in the dark atmosphere of Gethsemane and 
Mount Calvary ; still he loved to the last, and even prayed for 
those who were driving the nails into his feet and hands. 

Even the disciples continually misunderstood him and his 
kingdom, thinking it was to be temporal; but how perfectly 
poised he ever was with them! Thru all the storms of the 
most tried and tempted life of all the world, he never wavered. 
Offered all the world, he refused to consider it for a moment. 
The sins of all men were heaped upon him, causing him to 
sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane, yet his love for 
erring humanity remained unwavering. 

Some persons in the world's literature who are noted for 
constancy of love are Desdemona, Hero, Viola, Imogen, 
Hermione, Julia, Silvia, Helena, Mariana, Kent, Cordelia, 
Edgar, Emilia, Horatio, Hermia, Evangeline, Annie, Enoch 
Arden, John Alden, The Prince, Enid, Arthur, Joseph, John, 
Peter, and Paul. These will ever shine as bright stars in the 
world's constellation. 

5. Jesus and Immortality. 

Jesus having been with his Father from all eternity knows 
that the soul is immortal. To him it is never a question; he 
always speaks of it as a fact. He makes us feel that we are 
immortal. No other being has this effect on us. Poets like 
Tennyson, Longfellow, Wordsworth and Shakespeare have 
giant struggles with the question, but as we listen to Jesus* 
positive words, we are set at rest as to the question. No one 
in his writing or speaking has the God-consciousness that 
Jesus has. 

6. Jesus as an Ideal of Friendship. 

A friend, according to the scriptures, is another yourself. 
Jesus fills out this definition. He will do more for you than 
you will do for yourself. He seems . only to live for others. 
Having sacrificed his life for us once, he seems constantly 
to keep up the same deep interest in us. 

A few quotations will best show the character of the 



174 BIBLE IDEALS 

friend he is. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." 
"Lo, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age." 
"I will be with you in six troubles, and in the seventh I will 
not forsake you." "I have called you friends." Every true 
follower of Christ knows these things to be a fact, and that, 
tho all others fail, Jesus never fails him. 

Only the Father seems to compare with him as a friend. 
Says he, "Others may forget, yet will not I." "I have en- 
graved thee on the palms of my hands; thy walls are con- 
tinually before me." 

Friendship has been one of the favorite themes of poets. 
We love to contemplate the friendships of Jonathan and David, 
Ruth and Naomi, Paul and Timothy, Jesus and John, Bas- 
sanio and Antonio, Emilia and Desdemona, Horatio and Ham- 
let, Helena and Hermia, Beatrice and Hero, Damon and 
Pythias, Tennyson and Hallam. These are sources of light 
and inspiration to all who go their way. 

7. Jesus an Ideal Unity, 

Unity, in its last analysis, means freedom, the highest 
ideal. In him is no duplicity, but complete harmony. He 
ever practiced what he preached; thought and action were one 
with him, and not at right angles. 

He was ever one with his Father. He came not to do his 
own will, but the will of the Father. He completely carried 
out his Father's wishes and was at one with him. His love 
was just as unselfish and universal as that of the Father. 
Like the beautiful altruism of nature he blessed without mak- 
ing distinctions. 

In the matter of his being in complete unity with God and 
the universe, no one has ever much more than approached 
him. Literary characters have as a rule been ideal in only 
one quality. Enoch Arden, Annie, Evangeline, and Enid are 
ideal in constancy ; Kent, Cordelia, and Edgar, in faithfulness ; 
Sir Launfal, in universal charity; Jonathan and David, in 
friendship; Paul, in faithfulness and devotion; Isabelle, in 



BIBLE IDEALS 175 

purity; St. Agnes, in consecration; Simon Lee, gratitude; 
centurion, faith ; Imogen and Hermione, forgiveness ; Publican, 
humility. Some of these are ideal in other respects ; but 
Jesus, the ideal of all ideals, embodies in his life the sum 
total of all ideals in both secular and Biblical literature. 
Therefore he is the incomparable, a perfect unit. 

8. Jesus as an Ideal of Forgiveness. 

The whole scheme of redemption and plan of salvation 
has for its end forgiveness. Pardon is the svreetest and most 
beautiful idea in the Christian religion. Jesus, like a mother, 
forgives every penitent, no matter how dark has been his 
sin. Such pardon brings heaven to earth. 

When Peter, having preached and followed Christ three 
years, curses and lies to the people, declaring he never knew 
Christ, Jesus puts an arm of love about him shortly after- 
wards and asks him if he loves Him. This question is re- 
peated three times. It nearly kills Peter; he never did get 
over it. 

Again, Jesus prays the Father to forgive the men who are 
driving the nails into his hands and feet. He could have 
hurled into eternity the court that so falsely and cruelly con- 
demned him and scourged him, but he had mercy. In fact, 
Jesus' mercy and forgiveness all through his life are marvelous. 
They are among the most characteristic and remarkable of 
his virtues. 

Jesus' forgiveness calls up the Father's mercy on Nineveh, 
on the erring Israelites on scores of occasions. Never did 
any one truly repent, but he found forgiveness. Again, 
Stephen's beautiful spirit comes to mind, also the forgiving 
spirit of Desdemona, Hero, Valentine, Viola, Hermione, 
Imogen, Laertes, and Orlando. 

9. Jesus as an Ideal of Courage. 

We almost marvel at Jesus' courage when we consider 
his tenderness and loving nature. We see him making a whip 
of cords and driving all that buy and sell out of the temple. 



176 BIBLE IDEALS 

To do this single handed, seems almost impossible. He never 
winces in the presence of danger; other men steer clear of 
the fierce Gadarene demoniacs, but Jesus goes straight to 
them and bids the demons depart. 

Jesus has the courage to tell all classes of men what 
they are. On various occasions he calls the Pharisees hypo- 
crites, and always to their faces. He calls his best friend, 
Peter, Satan, when he needed the term applied to him. He 
says to a messenger from Herod, "Go and tell that sly 
fox." To the two on the way to Emmaus, he says, "Oh, 
fools and slow of heart to believe." 

The Master ever stands by his convictions, tho often at 
fearful cost. He stands out against his very disciples to the 
last as to the spiritual nature of his Messiahship, and even at 
the risk of losing them on various occasions. Twice every 
one of them leaves him, and at Capernaum after preaching 
his sermon on the Bread of Life, he says to the Twelve after 
the Seventy had left him, "And will ye also go away?" At 
the Well of Samaria, for talking to a fallen woman, his dis- 
ciples all leave, and it is four months before he wins them 
back; but Jesus is standing by his convictions at any risk. 
Again, it is Jesus' conviction that Christianity should be 
universal, and at the risk of his life on various occasions, and 
at the risk of losing favor with his own people, he proclaims 
such a doctrine. One of his deepest convictions is that hypo- 
crisy should be exposed. Like Jeremiah of old he lets the 
hammer of doom come down on the Pharisees seven times. 
He never ceases to expose their nefarious double-dealing, 
even tho it finally costs him his life. He does right at any 
cost, and should be the only example of his followers, for he 
says, "I am the way." 

Altho for two years he sees awful Gethsemane and bloody 
Calvary standing in the distance, he marches straight toward 
them. Like Paul, going up to Jerusalem, he can say, "None 
of these things move me." On being arrested his courage 
causes the whole mob to fall to the ground. Like a God he 



BIBLE IDE ALS 177 

goes thru the Passion Week. It takes God-like courage to 
endure what he did. He ever practices what he preaches, 
and this should convince any one of the sincerity and truth of 
his statements. Pilate and Mrs. Pilate are fearfully troubled 
because of him. Pie endures the scourging, the ignominy, 
the crucifixion. Never once does he wince but goes straight 
to the end like a God moving thru the world. What an ex- 
ample of courage ! 

Men who have approached him are Abraham, Joseph, 
Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, 
John and Peter. In secular literature and history there have 
been many heroic deeds, but in no case do we find such a 
connected succession of heroic acts with never an exception. 

10. Jesus as an Ideal of Freedom. 

Freedom is activity under law, and to be truest freedom, 
it must be activity under divine law. Jesus is the world's 
greatest exemplar of this divine idea of freedom. So much 
do we find him valuing freedom that he gives his life in order 
to make this freedom possible. 

All thru his life he lives above the bondage of any kind of 
sin, in the beautiful atmosphere of liberty. Throughout the 
world men are bound by all manner of sin, but Jesus ever 
advocates complete liberty. 

Not only from the bondage of sin does he set men free, 
but from the bondage of disease and ignorance. He believes 
in the complete man, freed in head, heart, and hand. Myriad 
are his releases of men, women, and children from various 
kinds of bondage. Plis beautiful emancipation acts have been 
the theme of poets, orators, and preachers of the ages. The 
emancipator of the world, the inspiration of mankind has 
been and still is Jesus. He has largely inspired the physical, 
mental and spiritual means by which the world has gone 
mounting up the heights. He is the incomparable. 

11. Jesus as an Ideal of Filial Devotion. 

One of the most beautiful ideals in literature is filial de- 



178 BIBLE IDEALS 



votion. Cordelia's and Edgar's devotion to their fathers, is 
beautiful. One gives her life for her father who has so mis- 
treated her; the other is willing to do so. Portia's devotion 
to her father's will has given her the admiration of the ages. 
The ingratitude of a Goneril, a Regan, an Edmund has been 
put in painful contrast by the poets. 

Just so, one of the most beautiful traits of Jesus' life is 
his great devotion to his Father. He sslys, "I came to do 
thy will, O God." "I came not to do mine own will, but 
the will of him that sent me." "Not my will, but thine, be 
done." "I and my Father are one." How beautifully one 
they were ! No wonder Jesus could say, 

"Our Father, who art in heaven, 

Hallowed be thy name. 

Thy kingdom come, 

Thy will be done. 

On earth as it is in heaven." 

So much does Jesus think of his Father that we find him 
time and again talking to him all night. In fact, at all times 
he is on good speaking terms with the Father, praying to 
him about everj'^thing. Jesus is our model, for he says, "I 
am the way." 

No one seems ever to have been more devoted to a father 
than Jesus to his Father. At the last, when for a moment 
the Father turns his face from the Son, Jesus cries out, "My 
God! my God! Why hast thou forsaken me?" 

12. Jesus as a Type of Grief. 

As a type of grief Jesus does not seem so highly idealized 
as even Jeremiah, for he was called the weeping prophet. In 
no place in the Bible in connection with Jesus do we find such 
an idealization of grief as we do in "Tears, Idle Tears," 
"Break, Break, Break," or "In Memoriam." Perhaps the 
reason is, Jesus had greater insight and saw quite beyond 
the ordinary vision of men. 



BIBLE IDEALS 179 

But we do see him at Lazarus' grave weeping. "Jesus 
wept." He, no doubt, wept over their unbelief. Again, we 
see him standing on a mountain above Jerusalem, weeping, 
saying, "Oh Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how often would I have 
gathered you as a hen gathereth her brood, under her wing, 
but ye would not." Such lamentation over the city that had 
treated him so cruelly, and which would so soon crucify him, 
is remarkable. He weeps because of their blindness, their 
indifference to all their God-given privileges. 

Jesus' attitude usually seems to be against grief. The 
last week of his life he says to his disciples, "Let not your 
heart be troubled." He would not have them troubled over 
his leaving them, for, as he said, "It is expedient that I go 
away." Then, too, he is going away to prepare a place for 
them, and he promises to return for them and take them to 
be with himself. At another time, when on his way to 
Calvary, he tells the women not to weep for him. 

Paul is very much like Jesus on the subject of grief. 
Altho he seems to have had more cause for grief than Jeremiah, 
yet he never writes any Lamentations ; but even while in prison 
we hear him singing with Silas, and praising God. On an- 
other occasion while in prison, he breaks forth, "Rejoice and 
again, I say rejoice. Rejoice always, rejoice evermore." He 
could say, "These light afflictions which are but for a moment, 
work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory." God and Christ are vivid realities to him, and being 
ever in touch with the Infinite, he keeps up his spirits. This 
triumph of the soul over its sorrow seems to be a divine ideal. 
In the Rainy Day, The Star Mars, Psalm of Life, Foot- 
steps of Angels, and In Memoriam, we see the soul rising up 
out of its grief as conqueror. 

13. Jesus' Attitude Toward Restitution. 

This is clearly shown in the case of Zaccheus, who had 
ever lived a life of righteousness, and yet had grown wealthy. 
Being eager to see Jestis^ he goes to considerable trouble in 



180 BIBLE IDEALS 

order to make sure. As Jesus comes up to the tree which 
Zaccheus had climbed, the Master tells him to make haste 
and come down, for he wishes to dine with him that day. 
The little fellow slides out of the tree in a hurrj^, and im- 
mediately begins to speak of restitution. "The half of my 
goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from 
any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." And 
Jesus said unto him, "This day is salvation come unto this 
house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the 
Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
Jesus sees at a glance that the man has the right spirit, and 
it is enough for him. One who is not willing to make restitu- 
tion need not expect pardon from Jesus. 

This condition of salvation is not so often mentioned as 
some of the others, but it is no doubt as essential. It was a 
well known custom among the Jews. Somehow secular littera- 
teurs have failed to see its beauty. 

14. Jesus and Heroism. 

The world has ever admired and honored its heroes. The 
Savonarolas, the Latimers, the Ridleys, the Daniels, have 
caught the heart of the great. But no one has ever equaled 
the Christ as a real hero. By the consensus of opinion of 
mankind he is the only one who always had the moral courage 
to stand for the right. To do it meant no place on which to 
lay his head ; tho it meant unpopularity, persecution, hounding, 
being despised, forsaken, rejected, scourged, and hanged; tho 
it meant the midnight darkness of Gethsemane and Mt. Cal- 
vary, yet he never once swerved from his convictions. The 
real hero is the man who has the courage of his convictions 
and will die for them if necessary. 

Jesus stands without a parallel in this respect. Henry 
V is a great type of heroism and moral balance, immortalized 
by Shakespeare. But how does he compare with the Christ? 
How has his heroism affected the ages as compared with that 
of the Christ.^ While as a man he was truly a great hero^ 



^^_ BIBLE IDEALS 181 

yet when we measure the two^ side by side^ there is little 
comparison. Paul^ Moses, Peter, and John were greater 
heroes than Henry V when measured by world consequences. 

15. Jesus and Patriotism. 

Patriotism has been the favorite theme of about as many 
poets as has love, but it is, perhaps, without exception, na- 
tional. Even tho it may be typical, it is only what a native 
will do for his own country, and not for another country, or 
the world, as is always the case in the Jesus-or-God-type of 
patriotism. Universal unselfishness is the heavenly atmos- 
phere of divine patriotism. 

Our Declaration of Independence was from political tyran- 
ny; the divine declaration of independence is from all sin, 
and is worldwide. Freedom in either case is obtained at great 
cost; but in one, greater than in the other. 

Even in places in the Bible, we find the narrow national 
ideal of patriotism, just as we do in secular history. Debo- 
rah's patriotic song of deliverance exults over the destruction 
of her enemies. To the Jews all the Gentiles were barbarians, 
devilish; but to Jesus, they were brothers along with the 
Jews. Beautiful ! Even John had the leprosy of narrowness, 
desiring to stop one who was casting out devils in Jesus* 
name just because he followed not with the disciples. Peter 
was so full of prejudices that it took two miracles in one case 
of conversion to convince him that the Gentiles had any Chris- 
tian rights. The Jews in general were afflicted with the same 
disease of narrowness ; they could not bear for Jesus to say 
a word of praise for Naaman or the widow of Sarepta. They 
have all kinds of kinfolk in this day and age of the world. 

What a contrast between the Jewish exiles of Babylon, 
and Paul, a prisoner in Rome ! They pine and fret for native 
land and the old church at Jerusalem, but Paul busies himself 
converting the Romans, his captors, and establishing a church 
in Rome. Paul is Christlike in his patriotism. 

The Jews arrogated to themselves alone salvation, but 



182 BIBLE IDE ALS 



Jesus says^ "Go ye into alLthe world and preach the gospel 
to every creature/' Such universal love, sympathy, and un- 
selfishness belong to world patriotism. It would free a China, 
a Japan, a Dark Continent as quickly as an America. It, too, 
would free from bondage of every kind; while as a rule na- 
tional patriotism concerns little more than political evils. 

The idealization could not be higher, for no one could give 
more than Jesus did, nor could the extent of the universe 
blessed be greater. The idealization stands without a parallel, 
altho secular literature has scores of patriotic poems. 

16. Jesus and Power. 

The human mind has ever been impressed with the idea 
of great power. It has made much of its heroes, those who 
have wielded great power. 

One characteristic of Jesus, which is almost if not as great 
as his love, is power. We see him easily swaying the multi- 
tudes as no other man ever did. He speaks to the winds and 
waves, and they lie down as gentle as a lamb. To deaf ears 
he says, unstop, and the melodies of the universe go trooping 
in at eargate. To blind eyes he says, open, and the de- 
lightful scenes of nature flood the soul. To tied tongues, he 
says, unloose, and they speak forth the praises of God. To 
chronic diseases of twelve, eighteen, and thirty-eight years' 
standing Jesus says, depart, and these long-bound victims leap 
forth into the freedom of health. We see him, too, praying all 
night on the mountain, and the next morning the waters be- 
come solid rock under his feet. In case of scarcity of food 
he has power to feed multiplied thousands with five small 
loaves and two little fishes. When asked to be king, he 
unlike other men has power to resist the temptation. Demons 
who were a terror to all others, bow to his authority. Dis- 
eases of every kind, even leprosy, disappear at his word. 
By him God makes every world that whirls in space, and with- 
out him is not any made. He is the maker of the universe, 
and the source of all of its power. Death flees from him 



BIBLE IDEALS 183 

as dew before the morning sun. He has but to call and the 
putrified Lazarus comes forth. Probably greatest of all, he 
has absolute control over himself, never permitting himself 
to yield in the least to temptation. He is unlike all other 
men in this respect. Earthly power and possession appeal 
to men^ but not to Jesus; he ever sought first the kingdom 
of God and his righteousness, just as he tells man to do. In 
Gethsemane and on Calvary, he voluntarily lays down his 
life, and in the short space of three days he bursts the bars 
of death, conquers the mighty terror of earth, takes captivity 
captive, and blazes forth on earth and in heaven to shine 
forever more. The best proved fact of all the world is Jesus* 
resurrection. Standing on Olivet's brow he easily rises and 
glides away from earth. Today he has seven hundred million 
followers, the greatest of any being who ever lived, even tho 
he seemingly was unschooled, was despised, forsaken, re- 
jected, scourged, and hanged. His power and love are 
heavenizing earth ; continents are coming to him, the dark 
places of the earth are all becoming lighted up. He discards 
all weapons of ordinary warfare and tells others to do the 
same, conquering by the power of love. Indeed have the poets 
of civilization found love to be the only conqueror. 

It is useless to suggest a comparison unless it be God, for 
Jesus is the incomparable so far as earthly beings are con- 
cerned. In fact, all that is ascribed to God can be predicated 
of Christ. All power was given to Christ after his ascension 
and enthronement. Had he not all love, we might fear such 
great power, but love and power going together make our 
Elder Brother the most delightful, helpful, and inspiring 
companion and friend ever known to man. 

17. Jesus and Conviction. 

To any real student of Jesus' life, his very name seems 
almost to stand for conviction. Tho the heavens should fall 
he would utter his convictions. For instance, in the gospels 
he has a conviction as to the awfulness of the sin of hypocrisy. 



184 BIBLE IDEALS 

At the peril of his life he rained his multiplied woes on the 
hypocrites. For continuing to oppose these Pharisees he finally 
loses his life. But love of life to him is not as strong as love 
for his convictions. 

Jesus has the strongest conviction on service, humility, 
mercy, consecration, power of love, selfishness, faithfulness, 
unfaithfulness, indifference, readiness, courage, devotion, 
doubt, sacrifice, unity, preparation, constancy of love and faith, 
retribution, persistency, gratitude, ingratitude, forgiveness, 
friendship, providence, consolation, immortality, freedom, un- 
brotherliness, patience, peace, loving our enemies, obedience, 
duty, resignation, intolerance. He does not hesitate to speak 
in unmistakable terms in regard to these, and to exemplify 
all the good ones in his own life. 

Altho he could see Gethsemane and Calvary in front of 
him he never once wavered in his conviction on any life 
principle. He sets his followers an example and says to 
them, "I am the way." 

Stephen in the great speech which caused his stoning is 
a good comparison. To Stephen, God's word is a conviction, 
and tho it costs him his life, he does not hesitate to let his 
accusers see themselves in the proper light. He also gives the 
true genesis of such monsters, and when they see their frightful 
visages in the mirror he is holding up, they demonstrate their 
monstrosity by their actions. Paul is another Stephen, an- 
other Christ, in conviction. They may whip him five times 
with thirty-nine lashes, three times with rods, stone him, 
imprison him most of the time, crucify him, but he will not 
waver in his convictions as to the gospel. He is fully aware 
that to cross Judaism and embrace Christianity means an 
awful life of suffering and even a terrible death, yet his life 
is not as dear to him as are his convictions. 

The great need of any age is mountain-like men, men 
as unalterable in their convictions as Paul or Jesus. Such men 
shape destinies. Jesus goes forth, and the world becomes new. 
Paul shakes the continents as he walks up and down them. 



BIBLE IDEALS 185 

John Wesley appears, and true Christlike devotion character- 
izes the people of God. 

In German politics Bismarck comes on the scene of action, 
and national unity results. Garibaldi and Cavour appear in 
Italy, and the same great blessing results to this wretched 
land. Washington rises above the western horizon, and Eng- 
land hies away toward the Orient. Freedom spread her wings 
and has never ceased soaring. Only recently she has over- 
turned the Celestial Empire and is now powerfully disturbing 
the cruel Turks. Only man's convictions have moved the 
world; whims, opinion, and half-hearted desires have been its 
curse. 

18. Jesus and Nature. 

Like Wordsworth, Bryant, and many other poets, Jesus 
sees nature teaching divine lessons. He makes nature the 
basis of his parables, and thus drives home some great lessons. 
The sower, the tares, and the grain of mustard, are good ex- 
amples. 

What a great lesson he draws from the "lilies of the field" 
and the "sparrow !" The goodness, tenderness, beauty, and 
providence of God are so clearly brought out by these. The 
comparison of the lily with Solomon is a flash-light illustration. 

We are further told that it rains on the just and the un- 
just; also the sun, moon, and stars shine on the good and 
evil. Such altruism never obtains among men. Nature is as 
unselfish as God himself. 

Perhaps no other author has ever excelled Jesus in this 
particular phase of nature. Longfellow in The Bridge calls 
the moon a "symbol of love in heaven." Wordsworth tells 
us that "nature never did betray the heart that loved her." 
Both Wordsworth and Bryant draw us closer to nature than 
does Jesus. They all but deify it; to use Wordsworth's own 
terms, they make "nature all in all." 

19. Jesus and Humility. 

Humility is one of the most beautiful flowers of human 



186 BIBLE IDEALS 

activity. It graces Jesus' actions as much as modesty does a 
true lady. Maker of all mankind^ yet Jesus is called our 
elder brother; King of Kings_, and Lord of Lords, yet he 
delights to call himself the Son of Man; Creator of the Uni- 
verse, yet he calls himself a servant. 

Watch his actions in the Upper Room. He girds him- 
self with a towel, takes water, and performs the menial ser- 
vice of washing the disciples' feet. Could one conceive of 
greater humility.^ See him riding into his capital city, Jeru- 
salem, on a barebacked mule. How different from all kings 
of modern times ! Pride to him is a stranger, for it belongs 
solely to his arch-enemy. In all of his actions he moves with 
the humility of true greatness. 

A character so universally marked by humility is not to 
be found in secular or Biblical literature, nor in history. In 
The Ode to the Duke of Wellington we find the Duke a good 
type of humility. The element was almost foreign to Alexan- 
der, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon. In fact, humility is chiefly 
a plant of modern growth. Tho a Christian virtue taught 
man by the Infinite, yet its development has been exceedingly 
slow. 

20. Jesus and Glorification. 

The mount of ascension is the mount of victory, the mount 
of glory. Jesus sweeps away from the limited into the un- 
limited. He is crowned King, all power being given into his 
hands. He goes forth to conquer a sin-cursed, iceberg world 
not by arms, not by force, not by appealing to low motives 
as do the Mohammedans, but by appealing to the highest in 
man, by using the one weapon, love, which has proved itself 
a world conqueror. Seven hundred millions of people today 
worship him in some manner. God in a measure had failed 
to reveal himself and conquer the world in his plans before 
the Advent, but Jesus' loving heart is taking the world. 

In Revelation we see this same glorious Christ being the 
only one worthy to- open the book which has the seven seals. 



BIBLE IDEALS 187 

Christ in Revelations is made to shine with all the glory 
of the God of the universe. He shines as all heaven itself, 
greater glory could not be given to God than is bestowed 
upon Jesus. The Rhapsody of Zion Redeemed attests this 
fact. 

Only in a less degree do we see glory ascribed to him 
in the vivid comparisons made in the opening chapters in 
Hebrews. In fact in many places in the Scriptures, glory 
in dazzling splendor is heaped upon Jesus. The most strik- 
ing of these scriptures is in Revelation. "And I saw, and 
I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and 
the living creatures and the elders ; and the thousands of 
thousands; saying with a great voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb 
that hath been slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing!' And every 
created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under 
the earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them heard 
I, saying, 'Unto him that sitteth on the Throne, and unto the 
Lamb, be blessing and honor, and glory, and dominion for 
ever and ever. Amen.' " 

Approaches to the idealization are seen in the Doxology 
and All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. 

21. Jesus and Spiritual Conquest. 

This great idea is vividly portrayed in the Rhapsody of 
Zion Redeemed, where Israel as the servant of God is ap- 
pointed to conquer all the nations of the earth by love. Not 
by the Hammer of all the earth hammering down the nations, 
not by the great Axe cutting the nations to pieces, not by the 
great Cup making all the nations drunk; but by love, by 
spiritual means as gentleness, persuasion, kindness, by the 
irresistible illumination of "light" as it is so beautifully imaged. 
The means of conquest were to be totally revolutionized. 
But alas ! how long it takes to understand God ! The exiles 
returned and began with the sledge hammer blows of their 
Babylonian conquerors. In Chronicles we find, "Whosoever 



188 BIBLE IDEALS 

would not seek the Lord the God of Israel, should be put to 
death, whether small or great, whether man or woman." Then 
for fifteen centuries the axe, the torch and other means of 
torture were used. Persecution! persecution! It seems that 
man could not realize that force cannot conquer spirit. 

We see in the Rhapsody Jesus as he would go forth to 
conquer the world by love, yet it was Greek to those people 
and has been to most nations since. Practically all the attributes 
of Jesus that we find in the Gospel in Reality we find in the 
Gospel in Prophecy. 

Jesus comes a fulfillment of prophecy. We see him first 
settling the question as to the nature of his Messiahship; it 
must be spiritual. Then we see him going about for three 
years, doing good, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowing, 
binding up the broken-hearted, feeding the hungry, raising 
the dead. He touches the cradle, and it becomes sacred; he 
touches marriage, and it becomes Christian ; he touches home, 
and it becomes a paradise; he touches the church, and it be- 
comes the sky-pointing monument of the age. Persecuted, he 
does not persecute; hounded, he does not retaliate; pursued, 
he does not pursue; despised, he does not despise; forsaken, 
he does not forsake; rejected, he does not reject; condemned 
to death by the Sanhedrin for raising Lazarus, he does not 
doom them; hated by his enemies, he loves them; attacked by 
a mob, he heals the ear of Malchus, one of their men; falsely 
accused, he does not accuse; mocked, he does not mock; 
scourged, he does not scourge; nailed to the cross, he prays 
for his murderers ; killed, he gives a world of life, love, peace 
and joy. When, oh, when will the world appreciate Christ's 
way of doing! He says, "I am the way." He forbade the 
use of any weapons but love, and by it alone he has now seven 
hundred million followers in the world! 

A red streak of persecution by force runs from the cross 
to the present. The history of these conflicts is black with 
sin. Jesus desired that all of his followers be one happy 
loving family, thinking of one another as he thought of the 



BIBLE IDEALS 189 



Father, but alas, the jangling divisions are enough to make 
the Christ sick ! He came to give peace, happiness and free- 
dom; but divisions have given discord, misery, and bondage. 
Rare souls, tho, are seeing more and more clearly, like the 
Christ, that truth is one, that God is its source, that we 
must come to be a loving family, and that love which makes 
a universal brotherhood is to be the only solution of the 
world's vexing problems. 

No poem in secular literature can be found where one 
being is to spiritualize and heavenize all the nations of the 
earth by means of love. To no man was such a task ever 
given or ever thought of. Jesus is unique in this, the supreme 
conqueror of the world by the weapon of ideals. 

22. Jesus and Exaltation. 

In the fourth vision of the Rhapsody of Zion Redeemed 
we see a sublime exaltation of Jesus. All the nations of the 
earth break forth in praise, adoration, and even utter astonish- 
ment that one born in the lower walks of life, comparatively 
unschooled, a carpenter, a very poor man, without comeliness 
of form that men should look upon him, without beauty, that 
men should desire him, despised, rejected of men, a man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief, not esteemed, wounded 
for man's transgressions, bruised for man's iniquities, the 
bearer of all of man's sins, oppressed without offering resist- 
ance, led to the slaughter without returning a word, scourged, 
numbered with the transgressors, cruelly crucified, buried with 
the wicked; that such a one should suddenly become the turn- 
ing point of the world's history, the idol, the worshipped of 
all nations, the inspiration of literature, science, and art, the 
real source of all true greatness ! With such a background 
and such an outcome no reasoning man can say anything else 
but God ! God ! The only explanation of the Jesus of history 
is God manifest in the flesh. 

It is useless to think of secular literature furnishing a 



190 BIBLE IDEALS 

parallel to this poem or even Biblical literature except as we 
go to the gospels in reality. 

23. Jesus as an Example of Living Under the Inspira- 
tion OF THE Highest. 

Even as a twelve year old boy he exemplifies this princi- 
ple. When he is reminded, in the temple, of his relation to 
his parents, he replies, "Wot ye not I must be about my 
father's business !" This shows a choosing of the highest 
relation. 

In the temptation in the Wilderness he is offered food for 
the physical man when he is ravenously hungry, but he 
promptly chooses the spiritual first. "Man shall not live by 
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God." A little later he is offered the whole world, 
if he will but worship Satan, but he instantly says, "Get 
thee behind me, Satan." In this temptation he chooses the 
spiritual nature of the Messiahship instead of the temporal. 

All thru his life he knows that the Jews as well as his 
own disciples are against him because of his emphasis of the 
highest in life, but he never wavers. When preaching the 
sermon on the Bread of Life in the Capernaum synagogue, 
he keeps up this high strain, realizing its cost to him. The 
seventy leave him, and the twelve seem to waver in their 
loyalty. "And will ye also go away?" he says to them. 

For three years he struggles up Mount Calvary to bring 
earth up to heaven, but he finds people of the earth ear^iy. 
He is compelled to die for the principle of the highest amidst 
the jeerings of a hate-cursed people and the convulsions of 
both earth and sun. This is certainly sublime! 

To compare Jesus with the youth in Excelsior seems 
belittling to the Divine. World consequences hang on the 
actions of Jesus in regard to the highest, for he is becoming 
the world's ideal. 

24. Jesus and Prayer. 

Prayer is more highly idealized by Jesus than by any 
other being. He prayed about everything, and had regular 



BIBLE IDEALS 191 

habits of prayer, as well as places for it. He raised prayer 
to the nth power by his emphasis of it. 

His early life is spent in a prayerful home. All Christian 
observances found place in that home. 

At Jesus' baptism we see him praying, and the heavens 
opening to rain the Spirit upon him. The highest commen- 
dation is here given him by his Father. All great things 
come to him in times of prayer. 

Three times it is recorded that he prayed all night, and 
these are only types of many other times. Before the world- 
renowned Sermon on the Mount he prays all night. After 
feeding the five thousand the multitude desire to make him 
king. He dismisses them and goes on the mountain to talk 
with the Father all night. He, no doubt, was tempted, and 
therefore needed help. On Transfiguration Mountain again we 
see him praying all night, the disciples being asleep. He is 
transfigured but not they. His face shines like the sun, but 
not theirs. His raiment is white and glistening, but not 
theirs. The immortals visit him and lay the law and prophecy 
down at his feet. Out of the midst of the Shekinah light 
the Father once more speaks so commendatorially of his Son. 
"This is m}'^ beloved Son, hear him." 

Coming down the mountain he finds a demon-possessed 
boy whom the disciples cannot heal. After Jesus heals him, 
he tells the disciples they failed because they had not been 
praying. "This kind cometh not out but by fasting and 
prayer." 

Staying all night with Peter in Capernaum, he is not 
found in his room the next morning, tho the host early knocks 
at his door. Altho he had been up late the night before he 
rose early and went to a quiet place for prayer. 

We read too, that he taught his disciples to pray, giving 
them that masterly comprehensive prayer which every child 
knows. 

But it is in John 17 that we find the real Lord's prayer, a 
pouring out of the great Christ heart to the Father that all 



<'. 



192 BIBLE IDEALS 

Christians should always be one as he and his Father are one. 
Five times he makes this earnest appeal to the Father, giving 
twice as a reason for doing so, that the world might believe 
that the Father had sent him, implying that without unity 
of the Church the world would never believe that he was the 
Messiah. When we think of this being given on the evening 
before his death on the cross, it becomes dramatic to us. 

After Lazarus has been in the grave four days, Jesus prays 
to the Father, and commands the dead man to come forth. 
Prayer is indeed power! 

In Gethsemane Jesus prays in an agony, his blood-vessels 
actually bursting. Such earnestness ! Such concern ! It is 
here the world is saved by prayer. On Calvary the resolu- 
tions of the Gethsemane hour are carried out. Even on the 
cross Jesus prays three times, so great is his concern for 
his crucifiers and fun makers. 

These are only a few of the incidents in his life connected 
with prayer. At one time he said, "Men ought always to 
pray." Paul's famous sentence, "Pray without ceasing," has 
the same meaning. 

Prayer is beautifully spoken of by Longfellow in Sandal- 
phon, by Tennyson in Saint Agnes' Eve, by Shakespeare in 
Hamlet, and by dozens of other secular poets; but nowhere 
do we find the height of idealization as it is given us in connec- 
tion with Jesus' life. The greatest exemplars of it in the Bible 
are Paul, Daniel, the disciples, Abraham, Jacob, Isaiah, and 
Hezekiah. Daniel is so busy with the affairs of a great em- 
pire that one might think he had no time to go over on the 
river and hold a prayer meeting for twenty-one days. This is 
the longest prayer meeting recorded in the Bible; the next 
longest is Pentecost. This same Daniel valued the prayer 
hour more than he did his life when he deliberately chose 
the lions' den. Such a conviction would revolutionize the 
church. 



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